Under covers?
by Cheese1
Summary: Booth and Bones have to go undercover again. Booth is not happy with the situation, but he has no other choice. Brennan however is thrilled. Will the whole assignment bring them closer? - Mature content in later chapters!
1. Chapter 1

Hi... Since my muse seems to be in a creative mood these days, here is a new story that wouldn't go away until I started to write it.

Since there might be more mature content later on, the rating is higher than usual with my stories. Maybe I'll even write real smut... Who knows?

* * *

Undercover(s) - 1

„No. This operation can't include her." Booth scowled at his boss, forgetting that he shouldn't be talking to him like that. "She hasn't got the proper training."

Cullen lifted one eyebrow in a silent question, not even bothering to remind Booth that he was indeed talking to the Deputy Director and not a rookie. He watched the special agent taking in a deep, calming breath.

Booth cleared his throat and leaned back in his seat. "I'm sorry, Sir, I lost my temper. If you want to assign the case to somebody else, I would understand it."

"Nonsense. It's your case, Booth… and it's going to stay that way. I understand that you're not comfortable with your partner going undercover with you, but we're a little short on agents right now. Especially female agents with the age to act as your wife." Cullen explained.

Booth sighed. "First, as I already said, she lacks the proper training, Sir. And she isn't the wifely type… I don't think she could pull it off convincingly. She thinks marriage is an archaic institution, Sir. Direct quote."

"Is that so? Well, I don't care about her private opinion on marriage or anything else, Booth. You said you were sure to be able to learn more about what happened to the murdered couple if you go undercover to that swinger club." Cullen reminded his agent.

Booth felt his temper rise again, but he managed to remain calm at least on the outside. "But Sir…. I thought I'd be able to go there with an agent."

"As I said, there's nobody available right now. Agent Cassidy will be back from her assignment next week, you'd have to wait until then." Cullen elaborated.

Booth shook his head. "That's too long." The special agent briefly closed his eyes again.

"And I remember that Dr. Brennan already worked undercover with you once, pretending to be your fiancée. I guess she managed to pull off that act without stating her real opinion towards marriage?" Cullen inquired.

"Yes, Sir, that's correct. Frankly… I don't feel comfortable with dragging her to the 'Sinner's Palace', Sir." Booth blurted out and still had to wince at saying the name of the swinger club in question.

"But why, Booth? God, you don't need to follow through on the whole… procedure. You know that. You're joining that club as a new, inexperienced couple and if you pull off the shy act you'll be fine." Now even Cullen's temper surfaced more than expected.

Booth wondered why his boss seemed to know so much about swinger clubs, but decided not to ask about it… he didn't want to know and he had the hunch Cullen would not appreciate him asking. "That might be true, Sir… but still…. I think this would be easier for anybody involved if I could take somebody else with me. An actress, maybe." He was nearly desperate.

"An actress? By God, Booth. You're contradicting yourself, really. An actress wouldn't have the proper training you seem to be so fixated on. And she wouldn't have Dr. Brennan's skills in self-defence, skills I value highly. At least she can handle herself. I'm not thrilled to be forced to send a civilian on that kind of assignment, Booth, but if you want to get inside this club, you'll have to take Dr. Brennan with you. At least you know each other and will surely be able to interact more convincingly than two people who have no knowledge of each other whatsoever." The deputy director said.

"That's exactly the problem." Booth muttered.

"What did you say, Booth?" Cullen asked, his voice dangerously calm..

"Nothing, Sir. I'll take Dr. Brennan with me. We'll visit the Club tomorrow evening." Booth said obediently, his voice flat and emotionless.

"Very well, Booth. Keep me informed." Cullen dismissed the Special Agent with a movement of his hand.

Booth left the room and went to his own office…. There he sat down and closed his eyes. How on earth was he going to get through this? Acting as a married couple with Bones wasn't the hard part…. But he just couldn't picture him and her in the midst of these other couples. God, and wouldn't it be awkward.

And what was the worst, he could easily picture Bones following through with procedure, as Cullen so carefully had labelled it. She'd see it as a handy opportunity to relieve her biological urges…. And she'd tell him that it would just add to their credibility. Booth shuddered at the mere thought of having to tolerate somebody else touching Bones. And he sure as hell didn't want to roll around with somebody else's wife just because they didn't manage to keep their sex life interesting enough.

Pulling off the shy act might work for him, but Bones…. God, she'd be interested in the whole thing, he was sure of it. She wasn't going to be able to mask that interested and fascinated gleam in her eyes. She'd be thrilled - THRILLED – at this opportunity of 'observing these couples express their sexual freedom'. Or however she was going to call it.

He was feeling sick. Somehow this whole mess was going to make him sick, he simply knew it.

'Damnation', he thought. 'I'm going to a god damn swinger club with Bones. I have to be crazy.'

* * *

Well, well... what do you think. A good start? You interested in reading more? I love reviews!


	2. Chapter 2

Thank you for your reviews, glad you seem to be interested. I hope you'll like the second chapter.

Undercover(s)? - 2

„Roxana and Anthony? Roxy and Tony, again?" Brennan asked, clearly surprised. Booth found it amazing, that his partner was surprised about the names he chose for their undercover assignment… and not about the fact that she was going undercover with him to a swinger club. She'd been pleased. Said it was a great opportunity for her to study the couples. He had known she'd have a reaction like that, but it still amazed him.

And now she was frowning at the names he had chosen. Sure, it had been a sentimental and maybe stupid thought to chose the names Roxy and Tony. "It worked once, didn't it? At least we're already used to the names."

She merely shrugged. "Just thought you'd chose something different. And why Walker?" She pointed on the last name on her fake ID.

"My mother's maiden name. Easy to remember." He explained.

"For you anyway." She said and now it was his turn to shrug. "I figured you'd be able to remember any name… why not go with something that makes it easier for me."

She studied him, his tense posture, his somewhat erratic gestures, his dark eyes that held worry in them and did not meet hers as they usually did. "You don't want me there." She stated matter-of-factly.

Startled, his eyes met hers. After a moment of hesitation he admitted. "No, no, I don't want you there. I'd have preferred to go there with an agent, but it wasn't possible."

Brennan lifted an eyebrow at him. "You don't trust me. You think I'll blow our cover."

He decided to be as open and honest with her as he dared. "No. That's not it. I just don't feel comfortable with this whole mess. I know you're able to play a role and I know you'll take care of yourself. I don't have to like it."

She studied her partner, her eyes narrowing a little. "You don't respect the choice these people make. You can't accept what they are doing."

He met her gaze again and passion smoldered in his dark eyes. "I think it's amoral and wrong. A married couple shouldn't … do this."

She gave him a long, evaluating look, then smiled a little. "Seems to me you're the one in danger of blowing our cover, Tony."

He let out a deep sigh. "No. I won't. I can hide my …. personal feelings and act as if I'd willingly cheat on my wife."

"Is it cheating when it happens with the consent of all people involved?" She asked softly, ignoring him calling her his wife. She'd called him Tony, so he could play his role, too, couldn't he.

"Maybe I have different beliefs, a different concept of what's right or wrong in a relationship. But it's all hypothetical anyway. So, you've got no problem acting as my wife?" Booth asked his partner.

She shook her head, her auburn locks bouncing. "Just because I don't like the concept of marriage doesn't mean I'm not able to play a role. Will you have problems acting as my husband?"

"No." He simply answered, not daring to elaborate on why exactly he didn't mind playing her husband.

"Well, then. How did Tony and Roxy meet and where did they marry? What do they do for a living? I guess those are the questions most likely to be asked by other couples." Brennan gave him an inquiring look.

"Take a look at this." He handed her an envelope.

She frowned at him for a moment, then took the envelope and opened it. Inside she found the information she'd been asking for and many more details. As well as a wedding picture. Her own face smiled back at her, as well as Booth's. Her eyes widened in surprise. "Who…. did this?"

"Somebody at the Bureau. He took his own wedding picture and photoshopped our heads on it. He had me swearing that I never tell his wife. Before you ask, the original picture of us was taken at the Jeffersonian Gala last year." Booth answered in low voice.

"I know." She cleared her throat audibly. "I remember the hairstyle. Angela had a friend of her do my hair."

Her gaze left the picture she was holding and met his. "Why do we need this?"

"Who knows? It might come in handy…. Try to remember what dress you're wearing on the picture…. I heard wedding dresses are a frequently discussed topic among young wives." Booth explained and had to grin when she groaned.

"I won't talk about dresses. Don't tell me you made me a designer or something, Booth! What does Roxy do for a living?" She eyed him suspiciously, not bothering to go through the data on the sheet of paper.

"Well, she's at home, raising our three kids of course." He grinned at her.

"Booth!" She snapped.

"Relax. You're a teacher. Science. Figured that's something you know a lot about, so it would add to our credibility. We just moved here from Seattle, though, so you're still unemployed." He winked at her.

She relaxed visibly. "Okay. Science teacher. That's good. What are you doing?"

"I'm a boxer." He fought the grin that was trying to cover his face.

"Booth, I know that's not the truth. Don't play games." She scolded him and he could very easily picture her as a teacher. The strict kind of course. How…interesting.

"Okay, okay. I'm an independent security consultant for small to medium sized companies." Booth informed her.

His words had her nodding, then frowning a little again. "Are you sure you know enough about surveillance and computers to act convincingly?"

"God, have a little faith, Bones. I'm not a complete moron. Besides, though these people are going to ask us a few questions, they won't be interested in the story of our lives…. And usually security consultant is not the kind of profession people would want to know more about." Booth smiled at her. "Oh, and as part of your cover… don't forget to mention how much you love children."

She snorted. "I don't have to love them to be able to educate them."

"Wrong answer, Bones. Roxana Walker is a very devoted high school teacher for science. I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate your lack of passion." He teased her. "Oh and this is for you." He shoved a little package into her hands before she could think of a retort to his teasing words.

"What's this?" She asked and eyed the small box suspiciously.

"Open it. It's not a bomb, Bones." He encouraged her.

She sighed and opened the box. "Glasses? Why the hell are you giving me glasses? There is nothing wrong with my eyesight." She unfolded them carefully.

"Oh, now, come on, Bones…. Most teachers wear glasses. And if you place them on the tip of your nose…." He took the glasses out of her hand and carefully placed them on her nose. "… they actually look kind of sexy."

"Is this Tony or Booth talking?" She asked, raising one eyebrow.

"That's for me to know and for you to find out." He teased her and she rolled her eyes at him.

"Very immature, Bones. Teachers don't do that." Booth scolded her, a boyish grin on his face.

"Oh, they do, if they have to put up with you." She sighed. "Okay, I'll take the glasses. They are part of the role, so I'll wear them." She pushed the glasses back a little, so that they were no longer balancing on the tip of her nose. "But I'll wear them properly."

"They actually suit you. Make you look even smarter." Booth commented.

"Glasses don't say anything about the intellect of a person." Brennan retorted and reached for the envelope again to pull out another picture. "What….. this picture is…This really happened." Her breath hitched in surprise. "I didn't know you kept it."

He hesitated a moment before answering. "It's a nice picture. I didn't want to throw it away." He studied the picture, as he had done more often than he wanted to admit. Tony and Roxy stared back at him. The picture had been taken during their case in Las Vegas, when they had acted undercover. He'd kept it because they looked good together. As if they belonged. Though it was a lie, it still had gone under his skin how happy they seemed to be, how relaxed.

"Well…." She cleared her throat audibly. "It comes in handy now, doesn't it. After all this is Tony and Roxy."

"Yeah." He nodded and waited a moment before continuing. "You'll find all other important details here." He pointed at the paper she was holding. "If you still have questions, I can come over and discuss it with you later. I have a meet. See you later…. Roxy." He gave her a quick smile before leaving her office.

Brennan nodded and absently mumbled. "Bye." She stared down at the pictures lying in front of her and wondered, why it hurt so much to admit that both pictures were faked in one way or the other.

* * *

Please let me know if you like it or not, I depend on reviews! THANKS!


	3. Chapter 3

Wow, thank you all so much for your reviews and kind words. Glad you seem to like the story so far. Honestly, I don't know how my muse comes up with things like that, I just know I have to write the stuff down or it's going to be stuck in my head and drive me crazy. (or crazier than I already am, at least ;) )

Here we go…, I hope you'll like my take at girl talk.

* * *

Undercover(s)? - 3

"What?" Angela gaped at her best friend, giving her an incredulous look. "Okay, wait a minute, wait a minute. You gotta repeat that… cause I understood you're going undercover with Booth… as his wife… to a swinger club… That's just too amazing to be true. There's got to be something wrong with my ears." As if to prove her point, she shook her head and flicked her fingers next to her ear. "Hmmm, I still hear that."

"I don't know why you'd call it amazing, but it's true. There is nothing wrong with your hearing, Angela." Brennan frowned at her best friend's behaviour.

"So, you're really going undercover. As Booth's wife. To the 'Sinner's Palace'. Oh. My. God. This is …. awesome beyond words." Angela bobbed up and down on her seat, earning confused stares from the other patrons at the Royal Diner.

"Keep it down, will you? And why are you so excited? And for the record, I'm not going as Booth's wife. We're going to be Roxana and Anthony Walker. It's like role play… it has nothing to do with our real life personas."

Brennan informed her while absently tracing the rim of her coffee cup with her index finger.

"Uh-uh." Angela made, a huge grin on her face. It didn't take a genius to hear that she didn't believe a word of what Brennan was saying, but the forensic anthropologist decided to ignore it. "Besides, it's just for tomorrow evening, maybe a second time. I guess by then we should have the data we need."

Angela still grinned. "Sinner's palace. A swinger club. God, Booth's going to be so jealous."

Brennan shot her a confused look. "No, he's not. He isn't supposed to act jealous, after all the whole purpose of going to a swinger club is …"

The artist interrupted her. "Sweetie, he's not going to act jealous. He's going to BE jealous. Not Tony, but you know, Booth."

"What? Why would he? There's hardly a reason for being jealous." Brennan gave back, irritation showing on her face.

"No? Because none of the guys there can compete with him?" Angela asked hopefully.

"What? No, because we're not in a relationship and therefore he has not reason to be jealous. You know, I'm really looking forward to this. It's a unique opportunity for me to observe this group from the inside. You never are able to accumulate data as efficiently form the outside. Besides, groups with certain sexual preferences that separate them from the majority of the society are understandably suspicious towards outsiders." Brennan mused.

Her best friend shook her head at the scientific approach. "You really have no clue, right?" She sighed. "Well, then have fun accumulating your data, Bren…. But… maybe you could keep in mind that Booth wouldn't be happy if you just go and romp with every guy there."

Brennan arched an eyebrow at her friend. "I have no intention of… romping with every guy there. The whole purpose of going there is to familiarize with the people and get them to talk to us. We need to get more insight on the group and who would have had a motive to murder Janice and Harry Freeport. And though sexual intercourse definitely helps to get to know people on a certain level, I don't think it will help us in solving the case. I'm not ruling it out on principal, since I don't know how often we'll have to meet these people, and after all that's the reason they are all there, but the first meeting surely is just for… getting to know each other."

"So, you wouldn't mind …. having sex with a man who's married?" Angela frowned a little. And they called her a free spirit.

"Well…. If you look at the rules they established for these groups, I don't think it would be an issue for anybody involved. After all the couples go there with the intention to get intimate with other people than their spouses. I don't see why this should have any influence on the relationship between the spouses. It's only intercourse and if it's happening with the consent of all people involved, I don't think that there should be a problem." Brennan explained her viewpoint.

Angela gave her a long, measuring look. "Have you ever really been in love with somebody you slept with, Bren?" She asked softly.

"I don't really….believe in the concept of love." Her best friend answered.

"Well that answers the question, doesn't it?" Angela sighed. "Sweetie… I'm really not a moralist and I'm the last person to lecture these people on what they have to do…. But… when you've found somebody you really, really love … and you have sex with that somebody… it's something else, you know. It's a connection… I can't really describe it, Bren…. But I think sex with somebody else would be… pale and incomplete in comparison." The artist stared at her best friend. "I wish you would know what I'm talking about, Sweetie."

Sometime during Angela's speech, Brennan's hand had stopped tracing the rim of the cup, her body had gone rigid and the expression on her face seemed… almost sad.

"Booth once told me something like this. Right here, he was just sitting where you're sitting now and told me that… sex between two people who love each other could… defy the laws of physic. That they could become one." She said, her voice a little hoarse.

Angela's eyes went wide. "Hot damn… You're talking about sex with him?"

Brennan waved her excitement off. "It was after the case with the horse fetish group… talking about the case naturally led to talking about sex. You remember the case, don't you?"

"Bren, I'd have to be brain dead not to remember Annie Oakley and Mister Ed. Sweetie, what did you say when he told you that… what did you do?" Angela asked, intrigued.

Brennan merely shrugged. "I agreed with him. Basically, because I don't have any experience in this certain area, but he has."

"Don't you think there was a…. reason he told you?" The artist carefully asked.

"Well, to prove his point of course. We had a discussion, he wanted to make me see it the way he does." The forensic anthropologist answered. But Angela noticed the slight change in her voice…

'Ahhh, not sooo clueless, are we?' The artist thought.

"Maybe he'd…. be willing to show you exactly what he was talking about." Angela waggled her eyebrows suggestively.

"What?" Brennan shook her head vigorously. "This is not possible, Angela. To achieve what he was talking about, we would need to be in love with each other. Which we are not. We're… partners and friends."

"The lady dost protest too much." Angela mumbled, but decided to let it go. Her best friend was hard-headed and stubborn… and as long as she didn't believe in love she wouldn't recognize it if it came knocking at her front door. Which it – in form of a certain FBI agent – did frequently.

Angela sighed. She could only hope the whole undercover thing would made Brennan see what everybody else saw and that Booth wouldn't get hurt somewhere along the road.

"Well, okay, Sweetie…. Now tell me, what is Roxy going to wear to make all the husbands crazy with lust and the wives green with envy?" Angela grinned and for the rest of the time they spent at the Diner she tried to talk her friend into wearing the sexiest clothes she owned. And buy new ones for the assignment too.

Maybe, just maybe, Angela hoped, the clothes would make not only the other swingers hot for Roxy Walker, but also get Booth to finally make a move on Brennan.

* * *

Now how did you like the talk between the two of them? In character? Please let me know, I depend on reviews!


	4. Chapter 4

Wow, thank you all so much. Glad you enjoyed the talk between Angela and Brennan… I had fun writing it, well truth to be told, the scene nearly wrote itself.

Here we go, the next part is coming…

* * *

Under cover(s) – 4

Brennan inspected her reflection in her bathroom mirror. No, not her reflection… it was Roxy looking back at her. It was Roxy with red lipstick and smoky eyes and glasses. Roxy, wearing a top that revealed more of her cleavage than it hid. Well, at least it felt that way… She glanced down at her breasts and wondered if people would call the outfit slutty. Where did sexy end and slutty start, anyway? Brennan sighed and saw Roxy do the same in the mirror.

"This is not me." She whispered. Roxy's lips moved, but it was her own, Brennan's voice in which the words were spoken, not the slightly huskier timbre she preferred for herself as Roxy. She'd done it before, pulled off her role as Roxy and she'd do it again.

She tore herself away from the mirror… after all Booth was going to be here soon and she wanted to be ready. No, she corrected herself, Tony was going to be here soon. She had to ban all thoughts at her partner and call him Tony even in her thoughts.

The short skirt she wore rode higher on her thighs as she sat down to put on her high heels and she made a mental note to be careful about her movements… after all she didn't want to reveal too much of her.

When she had finished adjusting the clasps of her black high heels she gave her reflection one last examining look. She supposed she didn't look half-bad.

The high heels and the skirt made her legs look even longer than they were. The tight red top showed a lot of cleavage and the jewellery she wore drew the eyes even more to it. Her hair didn't look as controlled as it usually did….it was supposed to look sexily tousled. She eyed it suspiciously, then shrugged. This was Roxy's sexy swinger club look. If the hair was maybe a bit too tousled it was Roxy's problem. And Roxy wouldn't exist for long.

She heard footsteps from the outside her apartment and put on the black coat that skimmed her knees, then reached for her small black evening purse. Roxy was ready, so Brennan had to be too.

She opened the door only a split second after Booth had knocked and the sexy look of her tousled hair, red lips and smoky eyes made his eyes widen in surprise and appreciation. "Hey Bones. You look… great."

She arched an eyebrow at him. "What bones are you talking about, Tony?"

Booth grinned at her. "I know you're in there. Well, well, Roxy…. Seems were in for an interesting evening."

He offered her his arm and she rolled her eyes at the gesture, but accepted it anyway. "Suppose I should get used to this." She muttered, then gave him a quick once-over. She had to admit, the dark blue jeans and grey shirt looked very good on him.

"Where did you get this shirt, Tony…. It looks… expensive." The silver-grey shirt looked as if it was silk and her palm itched to touch it, to confirm her suspicion. So she did… after all, this man was supposed to her husband for the evening.

Booth had to smile as she tentatively touched the material. "You ought to know, you gave it to me for Christmas."

She frowned and her hand jerked back. "I did not."

Booth winked. "Roxy, believe me, you did. And you bought it in the boutique "Mirrors" back in Seattle."

"Ah, sure, yes I did." She sighed. "How could I forget something that important."

When they entered the car and Brennan settled down in the passenger seat, she heard Booth's audible intake of breath. She gave him a questioning look and to her surprise she caught him staring at her legs. He cleared his throat. "Please tell me this is not what it looks like."

She frowned at him, then looked at her thighs, the way the coat skimmed her knees, revealing bare skin in some places and had to smile. "I do wear something underneath the coat."

"Oh, thank God." Her partner commented, genuinely relieved.

"You didn't think I'd go there… with nothing underneath my coat, did you?" She giggled. Booth shot her an incredulous look. Bones didn't giggle…. So he supposed this was part of her role as Roxy. Pity though….he found her giggling sounded actually nice. Free, careless and…. somehow a little dirty.

He cleared his throat again. "Not really. It… I was distracted, sorry." Despite his words he didn't manage to keep his gaze off her for long.

"You really should keep your attention on the road, Tony. And stop staring, you're my husband there's nothing you haven't seen before." Brennan commented matter of factly.

"If only that was true." Booth murmured before catching himself. Brennan's eyes widened at his words, but she didn't comment on it.

Men, she told herself, were like that. Send the signals they were receptive to and they were prone to think about sex.

Booth shot her another side glance. And cursed silently.

He cursed himself for wanting her, cursed her for wearing whatever little scrap of clothing it was she was hiding under THAT coat. For good measure, he cursed the coat, too. Cursed Cullen for not finding a female agent he could have brought with him to the swinger club. Cursed swinger clubs in general. Himself for wanting her… ah, he'd cursed that before….Cursed the hard-on that made his jeans too tight.

How, he wondered, how was he supposed to get through the evening in Sinner's Palace, when he was close to losing his mind before even entering the damn club?

* * *

Ha, Roxy and Tony are on their way…. What do you say, you like it?


	5. Chapter 5

Holy hell, people, you're the best. So many wonderful reviews, thank you! Glad you think I kept them in character so far! I'm glad the effort seems to show ;)

Here we go! I hope you'll like it.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 5

Brennan reached for her purse to check her lipstick. The way Roxy had dressed up, this was likely something she'd do. It was something Brennan usually didn't bother with…. Partly because she mostly only wore lipgloss instead of lipstick and – the more important reason in her opinion - she had better things to do than checking her own appearance in each and every reflecting surface she was able to find. She shuddered at the mere thought of vainly checking her lipstick in one of the shiny steel tables in the lab.

But this was Roxy and Roxy was much more aware of her female side.

Brennan shot her partner a side glance. It seemed he was aware of it too. She wondered briefly if she should have let him check out her outfit before putting on the coat. She hoped that it was not what would be considered slutty. Booth would have known, wouldn't he? Annoyed at her own insecurity she tried to banish all thoughts about her clothes, or rather the lack of them. Roxy Walker had worn such outfits before and was self-confident. There was neither space nor time for second thoughts now.

Brennan's pulse accelerated a little, when she saw the red and yellow sign announcing "Sinner's Palace" in front of them. Officially it was only a bar, but the name itself implied more than only drinks, didn't it? And Booth had told her he'd found out that you couldn't enter the 'bar' without permission by the owner, Terrence O'Reilly.

Booth parked the car and gave his partner a long look. "Ready, Roxy-darling?"

Brennan frowned a little. "I told you countless times not to call me darling."

Her partner winked at her. "It's either honey or darling, you choose."

She rolled her eyes. "Stick with darling then." She had to suppress a shudder when using the word, but then a sly smile covered her face. "Sweetheart."

Booth snorted, but managed not to object to the term of affection she'd applied to him. Somehow Tony the Tiger had been more to his liking, but hey, they were only playing roles, right?

They left the car and started walking towards the building. It looked appropriate enough for the name 'Sinner's Palace'. Painted flames were licking up at each of the walls and red and orange fake torches lit the way towards the impressive entrance. Little devils were painted all over the heavy black doors.

A bulky man eyed them suspiciously when they came near the entrance and nearly bellowed. "Names?"

Booth produced a polite smile. "Roxana and Anthony Walker. Mister O'Reilly expects us."

The bouncer gave them a quick once-over, hesitated for a moment. "You've got ID?"

"Sure." Brennan smiled at him and reached for her purse to show her fake driver's license. Booth wordlessly showed his and the bouncer nodded and stepped aside "Go ahead."

Booth took in a deep breath and pushed the heavy doors open, then held it open for his partner. She stepped inside, followed by Booth. A young man in a dark suit greeted them before they could take much time to admire the interior. "Good evening Mr. and Mrs. Walker. May I take your coat, Madam?"

Brennan nodded and started to unbutton her black coat, while she let her gaze sweep over the entrance hall. She was not sure what she'd expected, but she had to admit that she liked what she saw so far. The interior clearly was trying to resemble a castle or some other medieval location, maybe a dungeon. The walls looked as if made of old stone blocks, although she suspected that they were fake. But it still made for a very nice scenery. Real torches and a huge chandelier lit the hall and the candle light caused shadows to flicker across the stone walls.

She slipped out of her coat and heard a strangled sound escape Booth. He stood only a few feet away and gaped at her, clearly stunned by her revealing clothes. The young man in the dark suit, who'd just taken her coat cast them a suspicious glance.

"Get a grip, Tony." Brennan said and lowered her voice to a conspiratorial tone, leaning in towards the young man, that still watched them. "It's a game of us. I always dress up by myself and he doesn't know what I'm wearing until I take the coat off." She giggled. "This is a new outfit, hence the reaction." She winked at the young man.

"Very nice clothes, Madam. And an interesting idea to keep the relationship fresh, if I dare say so." The young man commented and she heard a faint note of British accent in his voice. She filed away that little bit of information and gave him another polite smile before turning towards her 'husband.'

The little exchange between them gave Booth enough time to recover from the jolt of surprise and lust that had shot through him upon seeing his partner in a getup he could only describe as sizzling HOT. The skirt was far shorter than anything he'd ever seen her wear and the top showed off a lot of cleavage. For another woman the outfit might have been too daring and even looked cheap, though he was sure the clothes had been expensive. But his partner had an innate grace that made her look both classy and sexy at the same time. And dangerous, he had to acknowledge, very dangerous.

Booth swallowed hard, then offered 'his wife' his arm. "You never seize to amaze me, Roxy-darling." He said, when she put her hand on his arm. The words came out a little husky, but he supposed even if he'd really been married to her for three years, he would have been entitled to show a reaction to the sight of her luscious body wrapped into those sinful clothes.

Booth knew he was in for an evening of pure torture and constant struggle not to lose his composure. How the hell was he supposed to not only get through this evening without just jumping her, but also conversing with other couples as if it was okay for him to get his wife pawed at by other men. And not only pawed at….no, he reminded himself… the men he was going to meet wanted to have sex with his wife, that was the whole purpose of the meeting. He had to stifle a shudder. It didn't matter that Bones was not really his wife.

In his mind, she was his. She was his to protect….and imagining other men touching her nearly sent him in a blinding rage. He had to distance himself of all this mess or he was going to get insane, he decided.

Booth took in a deep breath and pushed his own feelings and beliefs aside and let Tony, careless, casual Tony take over.

"Well, darling, let's have fun." Tony said jovially.

* * *

Sooo, please let me know, do you like it? Can you picture the Sinner's Palace? I think medieval style, with torches and candles make for a very erotic scenery. What do you say? Reviews make me HAPPY!


	6. Chapter 6

Thank you all so much for your reviews, I'm really glad you seem to like the story so far. Somebody asked if there are places existing like the Sinner's Palace. Truth to be told, I've got no idea. Despite what I'm writing about, my sex life doesn't need that kind of outside stimulation ;).

So, I can't base these things on personal experience. But isn't that the reason why we call it fiction? And I assure you, I have quite an imagination ;) - please insert dirty laugh

Hope you'll enjoy the following chapter.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 6

"Good evening, Mr. and Mrs. Walker" Another man stepped forward and greeted them. Brennan shot him one look and – thanks to the information Booth had given her – was able to identify him as Terrence O'Reilly, who owned the bar, together with his wife, Matilda. Both of them were in their mid-forties, but Brennan had to acknowledge that Mr. O'Reilly didn't look a day older than thirty-five.

"My name is Terrence O'Reilly and I'm the owner of this etablissement. Since we try to maintain a friendly and intimate flair here, I'd appreciate it, if you'd just call me Terry." The charismatic man extended one well-manicured hand towards her and Brennan accepted it without hesitation.

"You can call me Roxy. I'm not much for using last names anyway." She winked playfully at him and he smiled at her, showing perfectly straight white teeth. His face was handsome, the skin toned, but not too much and the hair a warm, light brown with a hint of grey. Brennan had the suspicion that the man didn't have to lift a finger to get women to do his every beck and call.

Beside her, her 'husband' shook Terry's hand and said. "Anthony Walker. Tony will do."

"Very well, Roxy and Tony, I would like to welcome you here at Sinner's Palace. I do hope the somewhat bold name and look of our house does not intimidate you." The perfectly modulated voice held the hint of an Irish accent, but Brennan was not quite sure if she'd been able to catch it, if she hadn't been straining her ears to hear it… She had read that Terrence O'Reilly's father had been Irish and that he himself had spent part of his childhood in Dublin. It had have to be a considerable amount of time to leave a trace of accent behind, she mused. Or maybe he just added the accent, striving for a more exotic and mysterious picture.

The quick analysis she did, was interrupted by Booth's voice. "No, not really. It looks impressive, though."

"Yes." Brennan hurried to agree. "Very appealing. I always liked medieval style."

"Well, you'll like the big hall even more then. It's been designed to resemble a dining hall of a castle me and my wife visited in Scotland. We were so very impressed, we decided we just to had to use the style." Terry informed her, while leading them towards a big wooden door, covered in carvings. Brennan looked at them more closely and her eyebrow rose ever so slightly when she saw that they were in fact copulating humans in all combinations she could think of. Men, women, paired with the same sex or the opposite in various numbers, performing the act in whatever sexual position you could think of.

"Very intriguing." She commented. "This must have been done by a very talented artist."

"You're interested in art?" O'Reilly asked mildly.

"Oh, I'm not an expert. I have a few wooden artefacts that I gathered over the years. Wood always tells a story." Brennan commented and ran her finger over one of the carvings, a woman pleasuring another woman.

Booth cleared his throat. "Well, this piece of wood seems to be telling a lot of stories." His voice was ever so slightly hoarse and Brennan's gaze flicked to him for an instant. He looked composed, mildly interested, but – to her relief - he remained fully in character.

"Oh, it surely does." O'Reilly commented. "The wood actually is very old…. And the carvings just add an interesting layer of story-telling." He smiled. "Let's avert our attention from wood craft to what's lying ahead for you. I understand that the first time here is a very….delicate phase for a couple. Usually, the group is quite outspoken and open towards newcomers, but we only just lost friends due to tragic circumstances… Today might not quite offer the open and comfortable atmosphere we're trying to provide."

"I'm very sorry to hear you lost friends. We really don't want to intrude…." Brennan said in a sympathetic voice, stepping back a little, demonstrating polite hesitance. Booth had to admit that he was impressed by her acting skills. The Temperance Brennan he knew was not known for being polite and hesitant.

"No, no." Terry quickly interrupted her. "They are eager to meet you. Newcomers are always welcome, let me assure you. I just wanted to let you know about our loss, so that you understand the dynamic of the group better."

"How many people are there?" Booth asked, his dark eyes fixed on the lighter ones of the other man.

"There are six couples inside already and my wife. Another couple, Annie and Carl, is on holiday, so they won't join us today. Sybil and Marc are not here yet….but we're used to them running a bit late. Now, are you ready to meet them?" Terry explained.

Booth only nodded, calm on the outside. His mind, however, was racing. Thirteen people already inside, with the two still due to arrive and O'Reilly out here with them….. that made sixteen. Sixteen suspects. And two on vacation. He had been hoping for a smaller group of suspects, had been hoping they could get away with only one meeting. But his gut feeling and his experience told him, that there would be no way for him and Bones to get a good picture of sixteen people during only one evening.

He closed his eyes for a brief moment when Terrence O'Reilly pushed open the big wooden door and decided to take it one hurdle at one time. Now he had to get through the evening that lay ahead.

Tony put his arm around Roxy's waist, casually drawing her a little nearer to him, while they followed O'Reilly into the room. And though she didn't want to admit it – not even to herself – Brennan thought it felt good to have Booth beside her. But maybe that was just Roxy reacting to Tony.

As Terry had described it earlier, the room was resembling a dining hall as if taken right out of a movie. There was a long wooden table surrounded by at least twenty impressive chairs in the middle of the room. the people seated around it looked up at their entrance and all conversations stopped. For a moment, the only sound to be heard was a crackle coming from the fireplace on the other side of the hall.

"Welcome to the Sinner's palace." The woman that had been sitting on the head end of the table rose. Her fiery red hair was swept up in an elegant bun, a net of pearls covering it. Her dress –Brennan wondered, maybe it should be called a gown – blended wonderfully with the medieval surroundings. She looked every inch a lady, right down to the elegant shoes she wore. "My name is Matilda O'Reilly and this is our group of sinners. You must be Anthony and Roxana. It's a pleasure to us to welcome you in our midst."

Brennan met her eyes and smiled politely. "Thank you very much." Brennan wondered if Roxy's getup wasn't too daring, since Matilda was wearing something much more elegant, but when she let her gaze sweep over the other people, who were now rising too, she saw that there seemed to be no dress code.

One woman was wearing an ordinary t-shirt and jeans, another one only a scrap of transparent clothing that revealed more than it hid. Another woman, which seemed to be slightly older than the others on the table, wore a daringly red toga. The men's choice of clothing seemed to be less varied. Most of them wore either jeans and a shirt or a suit, with one being an exception. The young man was standing beside the woman in the red toga and wore – what seemed to be – a loincloth.

Brennan suspected that Booth's trained eyes took in the scenery just as hers did, but when she looked at him, she saw that his gaze was on her. "Well, Roxy-darling…" Tony said. "Doesn't this just look ….amazing?"

Her mouth went dry at the intensity in his eyes, but she nodded. "Definitely. A pity our living room is not big enough to house such an impressive table. Or a fireplace."

"I guess you'll just have to spend as much time as possible here." The woman in red smiled at them.

"My name is Vivian. Welcome." She said, then gestured towards the considerably younger man at her side. "My husband, Ethan." The young man nodded wordlessly at them. Booth estimated the age difference between husband and wife at least at twenty years, possibly more. 'Well, somebody married herself a boy toy.' He thought, while smiling politely at the other people.

One by one, they all introduced themselves, some smiling, some giving them almost resentful stares. When they finally had finished, Booth produced a big smile. "A lot of names. I do hope I'll be able to remember them all."

Brennan smiled. "Oh, I'm sure they'll understand, Tony. But we'll try to give our best. It's not everyday you get the chance to join such an interesting group as this. As I told Terry already, I like to be called Roxy." She tossed a charming smile in and continued. "And well, this is my husband Tony. We're delighted to be able to join you today."

There were approving and welcoming smiles on most of the faces, so she figured she'd said the right thing.

"Well…" Matilda said. "I think it's time to get you seated, then we can start this wonderful evening with a glass of wine. We are all quite eager to get to know you." She gestured towards the two seats nearest to her and Booth pulled back the chair for 'his wife'.

Roxy's face smiled at him, her voice whispering a thank you. But he caught Brennan's eyes scolding him for his gallant gesture, the blue depths sparkling dangerously. He had to suppress a grin.

Good to know that despite playing roles, some things would never change.

* * *

Okay, what do you think so far? Did I describe it detailled enough to let you get the feeling of it? I really hope so.

Reviews make VERY happy.


	7. Chapter 7

Thank you so much! So many reviews in such a short time, I'm overwhelmed, really. You're awesome and I'm really glad to have you readers!

I hope you like the next chapter!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 7

"When we bring new couples into our community, we like to keep the first meeting only moderately sexual, as you may understand. Of course, if you decide you want to interact with other members more intimately at once and the others involved agree, it is also acceptable. But most couples need some time to get used to the concept. And… to be honest, we would like to get to know you a little better before entering the next phase." Mrs. O'Reilly explained.

She smiled at Roxy and Brennan made Roxy smiled back. "Oh, we don't want to change your usual procedure. You're more experienced in this than we are, so we bow to your expertise, so to say."

Booth nearly sighed in relief. Although they had agreed upon pulling off the shy act, as Cullen had advised him, he had not been quite sure if Brennan really would be able to resist. Suddenly he noticed, that Matilda and some of the others were watching him. "I agree, darling." He hurried to say and absently patted 'his wife's' hand.

"Well, then…" Matilda smiled and raised her glass. "To Tony and Roxy and new experiences."

The other sinners joined them, repeating her words and everybody drank some wine, before Matilda continued. "So, the first meeting usually is to get to know each other better, get a feeling for each other. As you may understand, we're not shy here. In fact, most of the time we are all stay in this hall here… You can see that there is a very nice soft bed in front of the fireplace that we're all very fond of. Moreover there is an alcove on each side of the hall." She pointed at the two purple curtains. "But we also have sauna and a whirlpool…. And of course there are three bed rooms for those who prefer… more conventional surroundings. Terry will show you around soon."

"I'd just love to see the whirlpool." Roxy sighed. "We've been talking about buying one for years, right, Sweetheart?" She looked at the man beside her and saw Tony smile back at her. "That's right, darling."

Booth wondered how his usually so socially awkward partner was able to come up with the perfect retorts sometimes.

"Well, this is a very special whirlpool." Vivian cut in. "It's big enough for half our group…. Which makes for very entertaining evenings." The woman meaningfully said and licked her lips. Her eyes were fixed on Booth and held an unmistakable predatory gleam. Booth nearly shuddered at the mere imagination of the whirlpool and half of the group in it, especially Vivian who leered at him. The woman surely was ten or fifteen years older than him.

"Sometimes during the first meeting, but usually during the second, things get a little… easier and more comfortable. Usually then the couple that joins our group talks about what they like to do in bed – or somewhere else - and what they don't. For instance, if you're into dominance, we have submissive people here, who'd just love to join you in your role play." Matilda continued. "This group exists to offer each other pleasure. Sometimes only one of the partners has a certain affection for a fetish… so, experimenting with other partners here is the ideal way to get the kind of sexual fulfilment you maybe wouldn't achieve with your partner."

"Like pony play." Brennan threw in, before catching herself. Brennan had had contact with a pony play group during a case she'd worked on with Booth. But did Roxy have that kind of knowledge?

"You're interested in it?" The woman in jeans and t-shirt asked, almost hopefully.

"Ah, no, not really." Roxy cleared her throat. "I only heard something about it. Role-play might be interesting for us, but not to that extent. Right?" Roxy asked Tony.

She practically felt Booth's inner struggle to stay calm and relaxed. She was relieved that he managed it quite well. Only somebody who knew him well would be able to make out the jumping little muscle in his jaw.

"Yes." He agreed, his voice slightly hoarse. "Moderate role play, so to say. But let's not hurry."

"I see." Matilda smiled. "We don't want to push you."

"Some couples like to show, rather than describe what kind of sexual stimulation they prefer. Some feel not that comfortable with talking about it, but are less shy about acting it." Terry cut in and Booth nearly winced, but he managed to keep up Tony's cooler façade. "I think we all should try to get to know each other better."

"Of course." Vivian agreed. "It's much easier to be comfortable with each other afterwards." She smiled. "What kind of work is it you do. I couldn't overlook how… well-built you are." She sent Tony a dazzling smile.

Booth wanted to groan, but he forced himself to answer. "Thank you. I'm and independent security consultant… and I like to keep in shape."

"Ah, a security consultant." Vivian repeated, her interest fading quickly. "And…. your wife?"

Roxy smiled, though Brennan internally fumed at the tone the other woman had used, somewhat pejorative and casual and most definitely not respectful. "I'm a teacher." She said.

"Ohhhh, really?" A blonde, slightly overweight man with a round face on the other side of the table asked eagerly.

Matilda chuckled. "You just really hit a nerve with James. His favourite role is being a nasty student who needs to get punished by a strict teacher."

"Punished." Roxy echoed, eyeing the 'student' in question.

"Oh yes. He has very specific preferences." The woman sitting next to James – his wife Tina, if Brennan's memory served – added in a conspiratorial tone. "She has to wear a blouse and a short skirt and punishes him with a ruler. I'm not much into role playing, though." She shrugged lightly.

Booth had to fight the down the urge to gag. The woman did not display any sign of jealousy whatsoever while talking about her husband getting spanked by other women with a ruler.

The world is a sick, sick place, he thought.

"Ah, well. I'm not sure if I want to play a teacher. Isn't it the difference from the every day things that make all this so….interesting?" Brennan asked with Roxy's voice.

"Right." James sank back a little, his shoulder's slumping slightly. Brennan almost felt bad for destroying his hopes and gingerly added. "But who knows. Since we only just moved here I'm not yet employed. I might lose my touch as teacher. I might need to exercise."

Hope lit James' whole face as he straightened a little. "That would be great. But, I don't want to put pressure on you."

"You wouldn't, James." Tina patted his hand absently. "You're way too submissive."

The way the woman treated her husband made Booth feel nearly nauseous. She was talking about him as if he was a dog. A dog she loaned to other women to go for a walk with him. He nearly groaned as the picture of a collared James, lead by a leash appeared in his mind. This sick place was already infecting him.

"Is something wrong?" Vivian asked, her gaze glued to Tony.

"No, not at all. Well, to be honest….I haven't had dinner today and the wine is quite strong." Booth tried to cover up quickly.

"Oh, why didn't you say anything" Mrs. O'Reilly exclaimed. "We have canapés waiting in the kitchen. I'll just go get them." She quickly rose and wordlessly the woman in jeans and t-shirt – Booth believed her name had been Gloria – rose and went after her, presumably to help her.

"What kind of teacher are you?" Gloria's partner asked. He was not young anymore, but had a handsome face, a well-built body and deep blue eyes. His hair was black with grey streaks in it. Andrew, she remembered, his name was Andrew. And she had to admit, Andrew looked very interesting.

"Science." She answered after a moment, smiling at the other man.

James sighed dreamily and Tina chuckled. "He's fond of experiments, too."

"Aren't we all?" Terry added mildly and smiled when his wife arrived with a big tray covered in canapés followed by Gloria carrying a similar plate.

"But let's eat before we go into more details." The owner continued and reached for one of the canapés. "We can't have our new members starve, can we?"

* * *

Soooo, now what do you think? I know, a lot of talking in this chapter, but I felt it was necessary. How do you feel about the sinners so far?


	8. Chapter 8

Thank you all for your reviews, I'm glad you seem to like the story so far. The sinners are strange people, no doubt… but as I told some if you in the review replies… they were created in my mind – it's not a sane place to begin with, why should the characters I come up with be normal ;) ;) ;)

Thank you for reading, here's the next chapter…

* * *

Under cover(s)? - 8

"Oh, look at that, Tony. Isn't that room just gorgeous?" Roxy cooed. Booth nearly had to stop himself from laughing manically. A cooing Brennan, who would have anticipated that?

But he had to admit that the room with the whirlpool in the center and half a dozen big soft-looking chaise longue around it looked… amazing. Columns and some low walls at the other side of the room formed a few niches with more chaise longue, that conveyed the feeling of privacy and intimacy, although the people from the whirlpool might be able to watch. The whole room appeared to be taken out of the ancient Rome, all decadence and pompous style, but still it had just that: Style. Even he had to acknowledge that.

And, Vivian's words were proven to be true, too. He was convinced he'd never seen such a big whirlpool before. Twelve or more people would fit comfortably enough.

If you added to that equation, that most of them would spend the time in the pool willingly – no, make that eagerly - on each other's laps, you might be able to fit twenty people or even more in the whirlpool.

He was impressed. And glad that only Terry was touring them through the house. Booth didn't plan on ending up in that particular room with Vivian. He stifled a shudder. The woman had something about her that made him feel like a piece of meat, reduced to a simple object of her carnal desires. He didn't mind being complimented on his body, on his looks…. Well, who would mind, really? But her leering gaze was just too much. She made him feel like a rabbit…. and Vivian was the snake.

Seeley Booth, though an adult and self-confident man, was way out of his league at Sinner's Palace. Well, he had expected as much. Somehow he'd been wary, had feared he'd enjoy the time here, worried that there was some dark spot buried inside him that could relate to these people. But he didn't, not at all.

Whatever drove all those people out there to their actions, he would never understand them.

All this crap here was just about sex. Had they ever heard of making love, he wondered? Of the difference between the mere carnal act and the connection you could achieve?

He just couldn't wrap his mind around the fact that they went here with their spouses only to bang with somebody else. Men and women who had sworn to spend their life with each other, see each other through good and bad times we're busily fucking other people because their own marriage obviously wasn't enough to satisfy them. He would feel compassion, if he wasn't so busy being disgusted.

Booth glanced at his partner and a sudden wave of pity rose in him, though he knew she wouldn't appreciate him feeling so. Here she was, that intelligent and gorgeous woman with the strong mind, his partner and friend. And she had never made love, had no idea how it was SUPPOSED to feel. And everything primal in him screamed that he was the one to show her. But his head said otherwise.

His head also said that he was going to blow their cover with all his silent musing and he quickly cleared his throat.

"Sorry… I guess I was overwhelmed. You're right, darling. This room is … amazing." Tony said. He glanced at Terry, raising one eyebrow. "This must've cost a fortune."

Terry smiled politely. "It did. But this is an exclusive club and requires exclusive interior. We wanted to create a different world, a place where you can forget about daily life."

Brennan nodded. "You succeeded." She looked around in awe, which was only half-faked.

Another polite smile covered Terry's handsome face. "Thank you. I think upon seeing our premises here, you will understand why the contribution of each couple is important for us to maintain this standard."

"Of course." Roxy nodded vigorously and Tony gave a understanding nod, too.

"I hope this will not be a problem for you." O'Reilly gave them an unmistakable evaluating look while referring to the 800 monthly due NOT INCLUDING additional expenses, though he tried to mask his obvious concern.

"You think because I'm unemployed at the moment?" Roxy asked and waved it off immediately. "I do not work as teacher out of necessity. I like to teach, besides it wouldn't pay well anyway. Tony earns good money with his company and I inherited a few years back. Not enough for him to stop working and be lazy, mind you… but we're able to live comfortably enough."

Booth had to acknowledge that Brennan really was convincing. Much more than he had anticipated, even more than he had hoped. He gave her a warm and encouraging smile and her eyebrows rose slightly. The smile had been all Booth, not the grins he'd reserved for his role as Tony. She gave him a short, thoughtful look, before returning her attention to O'Reilly.

"Ah, yes…" Terry nodded towards Tony. "A security consultant. I hope you're satisfied with our security." There was a hint of amusement in his voice as if he dared him to say otherwise.

"Oh, what I've seen so far looks good." Tony nodded respectfully. "You… haven't got cameras, except the one at the entrance and maybe some others outside, though. But I guess you've got a good reason." He winked conspiratorially and humour tinged his voice.

Terry chuckled. "Yes. There are only cameras on the outside. We value our privacy and our guests do too."

Roxy nodded. "Understandable." She cocked her head thoughtfully. "But I assume you have camera equipment here… in case people WANT to tape something?"

Booth silently complimented her on how casually she'd been able to place the question after him mentioning the lack of cameras. After all, the video they'd found at the dead couple's home, showing Janice Freeport fucking – yes, he had to call it fucking, there had been no love or affection in the act – with a masked man was one of their few leads. So far he'd spotted at least three men who'd fit the height and built of the man shown on the tape.

James, the puppy, amongst others, was out. The man on the video had been in great shape, not an ounce of fat on his body and they had estimated his height at about six feet. And O'Reilly fit that description, too.

Terry gave Roxy a somewhat suspicious look. "Oh, come on." She winked at him. "Who hasn't tried that at home? But Tony leaves all the good equipment at work" She added a little pout. "….and I only have a small camcorder. You've got to have something better than that."

Tony sighed. "Darling, I've told you, work is work and home is home. I like to keep it separated."

"Oh, that I know." She nearly snapped it out and Booth's eyes widened a little. He could have sworn it hadn't been Roxy talking…. Somehow his throat was getting dry, but then her cherry-red lips smiled at him again and her earlier words were forgotten.

"I'm just saying. It might be fun to tape the whole thing. Especially with this…. set-up here." She gestured around and had an almost dreamy look on her face.

Terry had been silently following their exchange of words and smiled, obviously flattered by Roxy's compliments for the design, the suspicious look on his face fading. "Well, in fact one of the bedrooms is equipped with a pretty good system. We can't tape in here, though. It's the decision of the participants and their respective partners if they want a tape. You can't just make a video of the whole group."

"Ooohhhh." Roxy breathed, a lusty smile on her face. The look she sent towards her 'husband', made Booth feel hot from head to toe. If only it was Temperance Brennan looking at Seeley Booth like that. He'd show her 'ooohhhh.'

"Wouldn't that be…. inspiring for home?" She waggled her eyebrows suggestively, but then seemed to catch herself. "Oh… in case bringing the tape home is…. okay?"

Terry studied them for a moment, but he seemed to be satisfied with what he saw. "We can make copies for you to take home with you."

"Heard that Tony? You wouldn't need to take your stuff from work home. All the equipment we need is us." She smiled and Booth let Tony give her a suggestive grin. "Sure, darling. That doesn't sound like a bad idea."

She blinked at his husky timbre, but attributed it to his good acting skills. It couldn't be that all that talking turned him on the way it turned on her, right? Booth was her partner, still the same man who was catholic and not comfortable with talking about sex.

And her damp panty wouldn't change a thing.

And she was not wet for him anyway, she told herself, not exclusively. It was the talk, the surroundings, in short, this whole assignment that made her body overflow with desire. Wasn't it a perfectly normal and understandable reaction to all this?

Terry O'Reilly stopped her inner debate as he motioned for them to follow. "If you want to see the bedrooms…"

With one last look at her partner, Brennan turned and followed the owner of Sinner's Palace.

Had the lusty gleam in Tony's eyes really been there, or was it all a figment of her imagination, a mere mirror of her own arousal?

* * *

Ooookay. I know it took a little longer than intended, but I hope the chapter was worth the wait. I'm already working on the next one.

Reviews make me happy.


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you for your reviews on the last update. Glad you liked the insight in Booth's thoughts…. Maybe it's time to learn a bit more about Brennan's now?

Hope you'll enjoy the update, it's a little longer this time.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 9

"Where are the others?" Booth asked, when they arrived at the table again, to find it occupied by only about half the people they had met earlier. To his relief also Vivian and her young husband – aka toy boy - were nowhere to be seen.

"Around." Terry's wife smiled at them, not explaining the whereabouts of the missing few people. And there was no need anyway. A moan from one of the alcoves told them enough. Brennan assumed that the bedroom Terry hadn't shown them was occupied too.

"Ah." Roxy made and smiled knowingly.

"Some of us seem to be lacking in patience." Andrew's brows were drawn together in what could only be interpreted as disgust.

"Free choice." Gloria, who was sitting beside him, commented and shrugged. She said it as if it was a kind of motto.

"I know." Andrew nodded. "Still… When we welcome new people in our community…. We should be able to talk to them and get to know them, not vanish like that." He frowned. "I like to think that we're not completely sex-driven."

Roxy sent him a smile. "Doesn't matter, we were gone anyway. Terry gave us the tour and I have to say it is really wonderful. I like the whirlpool."

"Who doesn't?" Gloria grinned and that made all the difference. The unspectacular looking woman clad in jeans and t-shirt had a beautiful smile, that made her eyes sparkle. Somehow, Brennan found her sympathetic, although she knew she couldn't let that interfere with their investigation. But Roxy was allowed to make a friend, right?

"I'd love to hear a bit more about all of you…. what you're doing. We told us about our lives already…" Roxy's gaze settled on Gloria and Andrew.

"Oh, I'm a mechanic." Gloria said, her eyes sparkling with amusement at their obvious surprise. "I know, not that common for women, but hey, I love cars."

"Oh, it may be unusual, but I think it's a great choice. Women are just as capable of doing this kind of work as men." And this was Temperance Brennan talking, Booth knew. Hiding a smile, he gently placed a hand on her arm, before she could launch into a anthropological speech and addressed Gloria. "What kind of cars? I love to work on old cars, especially Cadillacs, whenever I have time."

Andrew gave his wife an amused glance as she lost herself in a discussion about restoring Oldtimers with Tony, then turned his attention towards Roxy. "I'm a dentist, in case you're interested." He winked at her.

"A mechanic and a dentist. That's an unusual combination." Roxy commented.

Andrew merely shrugged. "And a teacher and a security consultant isn't? Gloria likes to say that she's repairing cars and I'm repairing jaws. Not so different." He grinned again and Brennan had to acknowledge to herself that he looked very attractive. The type of men she wouldn't mind getting sexual relief with. And Andrew made no attempts to hide his interest in her…

And still… she didn't feel the desire, didn't feel the arousal she'd felt before when she'd been talking about tapes and whirlpools with Terry and Booth. Tony, she corrected herself, she'd been talking to Tony.

Playing her role, she chatted with Andrew about various things, but still there was a nagging thought in the back of her mind. All her attempts at pushing it away did not really succeed.

Had it been the topic and Roxy's desire for Tony that had made her so aroused… or did Brennan really want Booth that much? Somehow the thought shocked her, although she'd known she was attracted to Booth. Why wouldn't she? After all, he was handsome and had a great body.

But the man in front of her had too. And still, the certain spark just didn't come. No flutter in her stomach, no pooling of desire. Just a faint note of interest, barely detectable.

Was something wrong with her? No, she decided, surely not. It had to be that place. Somehow her efforts to remain detached, keep the distance had to have created a kind of barrier by now. That's why she wasn't as susceptible to Andrew's charm as she had thought. That just HAD to be the reason, right?

* * *

Booth actually enjoyed talking with Gloria about repairing Oldtimers and was glad to have found a topic that didn't have anything to do with sex. And after all, it was one of his hobbies, a hobby he hardly had time for. Keeping his mind off what was going on around them was made far easier….but he somehow stil felt that something was not quite right with Brennan.

He couldn't say what, but since he thought that they had spent enough time at the Sinner's Palace for one evening, he decided it was time for them to leave. After all, they would have to write down all the names and information as long as they were still fresh in their mind and they needed to discuss their strategy for the next meeting.

Booth faked a yawn, only half-heartedly hiding it behind his right hand. "'m sorry." He mumbled and gave Gloria an apologetic smile. "I fear I didn't get enough sleep last night. There was a failure in one of the systems I installed and I had to work on it half of the night."

He gently nudged the woman beside him. "What do you say, darling, should we call it a night?"

Roxy nodded. "If you're tired, we better get going." Booth noted the slight hint of confusion in her voice.

"You want to leave already?" Andrew seemed a little disappointed and at his words, the O'Reillys also looked up and gave them a questioning look. "It's just past midnight." Andrew added.

"Tony's been up nearly all night, working." Roxy gave Terry and his wife an apologetic look. "But we would love to come back soon."

"We'll be here tomorrow evening." Gloria was quick to throw in.

Roxy and Tony exchanged a surprised glance. They had thought there would be weekly meetings at most.

"Most of us will be here tomorrow night." Terry corrected and his glance towards Gloria was not entirely friendly. "We usually meet every Friday and once a month also on Saturday. Some people can make time easier on Saturdays, that's why. You're welcome to join us tomorrow."

The last words were added in a way that made clear he didn't really want them to come. His glance towards Gloria had indicated that he had not intended to invite them to tomorrow's gathering, maybe to discuss Roxy and Tony with the others?

"Ahhh," Roxy made. "I think maybe we'll need time to process all this first. Can we decide tomorrow if we're in the right mood and give you a ring?"

"Sure." Matilda quickly agreed. "That's not a problem."

"Thank you." Tony smiled at her, then rose. "Then I guess we'll be saying good bye now."

It took some time to say their good byes…. Although three couples we're still missing in action, including the one that had arrived later. Booth didn't like the fact that they hadn't been able to meet them too, but it couldn't be changed. For now, he just needed to get out of the club…. And he suspected Brennan wanted out too. Though he couldn't quite understand why. After all, the sexually so independent woman should feel as if in paradise at Sinner's Palace, shouldn't she? And still it gave him some satisfaction… it pleased him that obviously she hadn't enjoyed her conversation with Gloria's husband as much as Andrew.

* * *

When they stepped outside and walked the way back to the car, they both remained silent. They simply didn't know what to say to each other. Roxy and Tony had done enough talking for the evening and Brennan and Booth couldn't discuss the case as long as they were not in the car.

Being gallant, Tony held the door open for Roxy. He knew that Brennan would hate it, but in case somebody was watching he intended to stay true to his role as devoted husband. A devoted husband who'd hand over his wife to another man – like Andrew – in a heartbeat. He stifled a shudder, still not comfortable with the concept, while moving around the car to the driver's side.

When he turned the key in the ignition he felt more self-confident again, happy that he could get rid of Tony now. He had survived an evening in hell…. Well, at Sinner's Palace, but that wasn't a long shot, in his opinion.

They remained silent for some time, until Brennan cleared her throat.

"What do you think…." She asked slowly. "Where do they keep the original tapes?"

"I have no idea, but that's something we could try to find out. What do you say, should we come back tomorrow?" Booth's voice didn't betray an emotion.

"Let's put together all we found out tonight and decide then." She suggested and he nodded.

"We need to prepare ourselves for the next meeting, make sure we're saying the same stuff. About…. Well, things." He sighed, not sure how to approach the topic. He hadn't forgotten about how they were expected to talk about their sexual preferences during the next meeting. Booth was racking his brain how to avoid that topic during the next meeting.

"I agree. We have to be prepared. I think we should have sex." She said bluntly and nearly caused him to drive off the road and into the ditch. The car swerved dangerously, but he didn't lose control.

"What?" He gasped.

"We should have intercourse." She emphasized. "We never were intimate and we're shy – well, especially you are - about touching each other. They will know something is wrong. We have to make sure we're comfortable with talking about sex with each other. The best way to ensure that is, to have it." Brennan stated matter-of-factly.

"Absolutely not! I'm not going to have sex with you for this undercover assignment, Bones." He was shocked at her suggestion. And even more upset about the fact it was also a bit hard to refuse her. He wanted her, but he longed for the whole package. Not just a quick tumble between the sheets to add to their credibility as a couple.

"It would be Roxy and Tony." She stated. "Which has nothing to do with us."

He gave her an incredulous look. "Do you actually believe in the crap you just said? Hello, I happen to be in this body. Tony is just… a mask, a cover. Not a separate persona. I can't switch that on and off."

She let out a sigh. "You have to admit that we won't be able to act convincingly if they want us to… touch each other or talk about the act, about sexual preferences. You'll blush, you'll be uncomfortable. You just blushed right now at the mere thought, Booth."

"I'll be able to play a role, I'll be able to act as if Tony and Roxy had sex every night… but… you can't ask this of me." His voice sounded strained and she wondered why.

She shook her head. Why did he have to make this so complicated? He had drawn a line once, sure. And she'd been careful not to step over it, at least not too boldly. She'd been attracted to him all along, but if he didn't want sex with her because he feared it wasn't professional, well so be it. She could respect that. But now and here was the perfect loophole…. And he didn't want it. Didn't want her.

She swallowed hard, but managed to keep her composure. He didn't want her, despite his reaction to her outfit earlier this evening? Well, she may not be used to that kind of rejection, but she'd be damned if she let him see that she was hurting.

"I'm just saying. If they want us to DO something more intimate, Booth, I'll be able to act the part. But will you?" She asked, her voice dry and distanced.

"Hey, I'm not a trained dog. They won't tell us what to do, okay? You'll just get a migraine or I'll have an emergency to go to. But I'm not going to …. No way!" Booth shook his head vigorously.

"We won't be convincing. We'll never be fully accepted by the group." She retorted.

"Fully accepted? We'd have to fuck with all of them first!" He nearly yelled it at her, desperate to make her let it go, to make her stop talking about them having sex like that. No way in hell he was going to bed her in the name of adding credibility to their undercover-personae. He hoped to make love to her one day, but it would be Booth and Brennan and not Roxy and Tony, he'd make sure of that.

"So you don't want to… see this assignment through, Booth? I thought you wanted to solve the case." Brennan asked a while after his outburst, her voice flat and emotionless, though for a moment he thought he'd heard a hint of disappointment in her voice.

Booth took in a deep breath, hoping he was calm enough to form coherent sentences. "I want this to be a successful operation. I want to solve the case, find out who murdered the Freeports. ….but not at any cost, damn it." He was not going to sacrifice his dream, his hope for a future with her, his plans of loving her like she deserved. He had no intention of tainting it by having meaningless sex, even though he wanted her so much he thought his longing for her would eat him alive.

Upon hearing his words Brennan averted her gaze and looked out of the window, trying not to show how much what he had said hurt her. So, having sex with her would be too much of a sacrifice?

Damn him. She had thought she knew him, understood him, but she hadn't anticipated that he'd be disgusted at the thought of her in his bed. Obviously, she didn't know him at all.

* * *

Uh-oh. Trouble, trouble! What do you think, did you like it?


	10. Chapter 10

Wow. So many reviews, I'm really overwhelmed. THANK YOU! So glad you like the story so far, although - OF COURSE – there had to be yet another misunderstanding between Booth and Bones… But now, let's see how they'll deal with it.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 10

Brennan wordlessly opened the door to her apartment, not inviting Booth in…. knowing she didn't have to.

They had to write down their impressions of the evening as long as everything was still fresh in their heads. He knew it and she knew it. But she still remained silent and he still hovered in the doorway, waiting for her to invite him in. She hadn't really talked to him for the most part of the drive to her apartment and he knew something was off.

"What are you waiting for?" She said, her voice clipped. "We need to write everything down."

Booth sighed inwardly. A heartfelt invitation would sound differently, wouldn't it? Was she pissed? Upset? Just tired? He didn't know, so he just took off his shoes and placed them beside hers, then walked towards the kitchen table, where the Freeport-file was waiting for them, right where they had left it before driving to Sinner's Palace.

Wordlessly, Brennan vanished in her bedroom, presumably to change into more comfortable clothes. And a good thing it was, too, Booth decided. He was not quite sure if he would have been able to keep his mind off her long enough to actually think straight and write down anything, not to mention anything coherent.

He reached for the notepad and started to scribble down names and a quick description of the people they had met. He even drew the table they'd been sitting at and noted who had been sitting where. The FBI agent was angry at himself for having forgotten two names, but he hoped Brennan would be able to fill in the blanks. Staring at his notes he suddenly realised she'd been gone for a while….Frowning, he looked over to the closed bedroom door. "Bones?" He asked. "You coming?"

There was nothing to be heard and he shrugged, thinking that maybe she just needed a little more time to change.

He knew that he needed something too. A drink. Remembering that he'd already had a glass of wine earlier he sighed and decided to go for coke. Hoping his partner had something like that stocked, he reached for the handle of her fridge, then hesitated. Realising he never had helped himself to a cool drink out of her fridge since it had blown him up once, he had to swallow hard. It had always been her getting the drinks. He blinked and shook off the sudden feeling of discomfort. He gripped the handle, just as he heard a sound behind him.

His partner was standing in the doorway, Temperance Brennan, all traces of Roxy erased. She wore comfortable pants and a loosely fitting blouse, her hair still a little tousled, but not quite as wild as it had been before. She had removed the make-up, too, he noticed. And he had to smile. Sure, the Roxy-look had been sexy, but he preferred the woman he knew, the woman he'd grown to respect and love.

"Welcome back, Bones." He smiled at her and part of her anger melted away upon seeing his genuine and warm smile.

"Something to drink?" She asked as casual as possible, while crossing the room towards the fridge, where he was standing.

"I wanted to look if you've got Coke in there." Booth explained and opened the door, then heard her suck in breath audibly. "Something wrong?" The concerned look he gave her, made her feel warm inside. He may not feel desire for her, but he cared about her, that much she knew. It had to be enough.

"It's irrational." She started and brushed a strand of hair out of her view, a nervous gesture. "But …." Brennan stopped, catching herself. What was it about him that nearly made her blab out things that were not only irrational, but simply stupid and somehow embarrassing? Not to mention long over and dealt with!

"You remember how your damn fridge blew me up. I do, too. But how are the odds somebody snuck a bomb in here – again?" He tried to make light of it, although he himself had been hesitant before.

Somewhat relieved she nodded. "I know. It's stupid." Booth heard the embarrassment in her voice and shook his head.

"No, it's not. It's not easy to…. forget that somebody evaded your home like that. I guess it's really normal you still think about it from time to time." Booth gave her another warm smile, his voice soft as he asked. "Coke for you too?"

She simply nodded, not able to answer. He thought she couldn't forget the fact that Kenton had evaded her apartment and placed a bomb in her fridge, but he was wrong. The picture that still sometimes haunted her, came up in nightmares, was of him. Of Booth lying unconscious in front of her fridge, flames and smoke surrounding him.

Wordlessly she took the can of coke out of his hand and moved towards the table to study the list he'd already made. "You've been busy." She commented, shuffling through his notes.

"Figured it would be better to start as soon as possible. Wouldn't want to keep you up longer than needed." He yawned. "You remember the names of the couple that sat next to Andrew?"

She nodded and added the names to the scheme he'd drawn of the table. "Rick and Caroline Harris."

Booth's eyes narrowed. "How do you know their last name?"

"I'm good, admit it!" Brennan teased him, trying to forget about the discussion they'd had in the car earlier.

"You're the best." He agreed obediently. "How did you find out about their last names?"

"Hers. But I suspect she took on his name. I knocked over her purse and helped her put the stuff back in again, when I was on my way to the restroom. I saw her driver's license." Brennan explained with a sly grin.

"I'm impressed. Very slick." He gave her a long look, then nodded approvingly. "You really did great today, Bones. You've been very convincing as Roxy."

"I told you I'd be able to play a role, Booth. I can distance myself when necessary." She agreed, a smile tugging at her lips upon hearing his compliment.

A shadow seemed to fall over his face at her words, though she couldn't imagine why what she'd said could have caused him any grief. After a moment, the odd expression faded again and he simply nodded.

"Yeah. I know." His voice was somehow flat, then he cleared his throat again. "Let's see what else we remember, okay? It's late."

Brennan nodded and went through his notes, adding a few details here and there or correcting minor mistakes.

Booth watched her all the while, his heart aching a little. Yes, he knew she was great at distancing herself.

That's why she had suggested Roxy and Tony having sex. And because he feared she'd really be able to 'stay Roxy' with him in her bed, with him in HER, he couldn't even consider it. He couldn't, he wouldn't.

But still, he found himself once again admiring her body, her face… the way she was chewing on her lower lip while working on the list. He was crazy about her. About Temperance Brennan, his partner, the socially awkward squint.

Roxy Walker was flirtatious, socially apt, parading around in sexy clothes, with sexy make-up with those glasses he had talked her into wearing on the tip of her nose. Sexy, yes, outrageously so.

But she was not what he wanted. What he wanted was sitting right in front of him… and still out of reach.

* * *

Soooooo. I did make it a little better, right? She's not really pissed at him anymore, only a little hurt. Which is bad enough, but hey, I'll fix that, too.

And upon many requests I had Booth remove part of his clothing. Heheee, I know only the shoes, but hey, better than nothing ;)

Please let me know how you liked this update!


	11. Chapter 11

And again – thank you for your wonderful comments! Glad you're reading this. You all ROCK!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 11

Brennan yawned and walked towards her bedroom. She was just about to take off her pants, when she heard a knock at her door. Frowning she left her bedroom again to answer the door, figuring it would be Booth and he'd forgotten something. She didn't bother to look through the spy hole.

When she opened the door, Booth's brown eyes met hers and he frowned at her. "Do me a favor, Bones. When somebody knocks at your door at this ungodly hour, please check through the spy hole, okay? I would feel better."

"You didn't come back just to tell me that." She stated and stifled another yawn. She really was tired and hoped that Booth would leave soon, so that she could go to bed. Unless, maybe – miraculously - he had changed his opinion regarding having sex with her. She gave him a quick once over and decided that he didn't look like he'd be longing for sex. He looked… annoyed, maybe.

"No. I can't leave." He said and she gave him an incredulous look.

"Why not? Something wrong with your car?" Brennan asked.

Booth shook his head. "No. But… will you let me in?"

She stepped aside to let him enter her apartment again. "Sure."

"Do you remember that guy that took your coat at Sinner's Palace?" Her partner asked her and she nodded. "Of course. A young man… he had a British accent."

"Really? Didn't notice that. Anyway…. It seems he followed us." Booth sighed. "Just the moment I opened the door I saw him on the other side of the street. He's watching your window. He didn't see me, so I came back in. We're supposed to be married, so he can't see me leaving in the middle of the night, right?"

"He followed us? How… could he have followed us and you didn't notice?" She asked, stunned.

He winced. "Uh… I guess the topic of our conversation distracted me. God." He raked his fingers through his hair. "You're right, I should be able to spot a tail, damn it." She watched him, saw the fatigue and embarrassment on his face.

"So, you need to stay here this night." She analysed, her voice flat. It wasn't his fault, but she still wasn't entirely happy with the situation… or with him. Getting rejected by a man was one thing, but having him sleep in an adjoining room the very same night…. with all that steam still coursing through her system….. well, she'd just have to make sure not to cry out too loud while she was pleasuring herself to fix this… situation. To get rid of the damn wetness between her thighs, the feeling of need still making her feel way too hot.

"Ah, yeah." He didn't seem to be happy about the arrangement either. "I can bunk on the couch." He offered, but she shook her head. "I've got a guest room. You can use it."

"Thank you." He gave back and she simply nodded. "I wonder if the guy was ordered to follow us by the O'Reillys or if it was his own idea."

She frowned a little. "I don't know. If he was ordered to follow us, I'd say the group is quite suspicious."

"And has secrets." Booth added and his partner nodded.

"Most likely. But if it was of his own volition…." She left the sentence unfinished.

"He just got promoted to prime suspect." Booth completed it and she nodded, a thoughtful expression on her face. "His build and height… he could be the man on the video, having intercourse with Janice Freeport."

Booth's eyebrow rose slowly. "Which wouldn't go with the group's rules. He's not part of the group or they would have mentioned him and his wife. If he has one. You think Harry Freeport would have been okay with his wife making new rules?"

He was so out of his league….why did all this have to be so complicated? Usually, jealousy was one of the most prominent motives for murder. But did these people actually really still feel jealousy? They were used to watch their spouses fuck other people, god damn it.

"I'm not sure. Having intercourse with an outsider may not consent with the Sinner's rules, but what if the Freeports had their own, additional rules? A couple that is part of a swinger club has different views on marriage and adultery than a more traditional couple." She mused.

Booth shook his head and sighed. "God, I hate this case. I'm good at understanding people… but… I really have no clue how these people tick. No clue."

Brennan gave him a long, measuring look. "You can't understand them, since you believe in finding that special someone, right? You think if they had found the person they were supposed to spend their lives with, they wouldn't feel the need to join such a community."

His eyes widened in surprise and he had to swallow hard before answering. "Yeah. That's about right."

She gave him one of her long and measuring looks again and he nearly squirmed. "Maybe you're right." She finally said and again a jolt of surprise went through him. "So," she continued. "Let's say they share a life with each other, maybe even love each other, but it's not the …. real thing."

The FBI agent had to swallow hard again, his eyes glued to the face of his partner. "Sounds… good."

"Maybe they don't believe in that special someone like you do and decided to make do with what they have? Maybe they figured it wouldn't get any better anyway. They have someone to go home to, share their life with, so maybe that's enough for them." Brennan said, staring at one of the countless artefacts on her shelves.

Yin & Yang. It stood for balance, for the two halves that formed a unit. She had to blink.

"It shouldn't be enough." He said and she looked up when she heard the sudden change in his voice, not quite sure what it meant.

She frowned and cleared her throat. "It's their decision."

"I know." Booth said and sighed. "I know. I just …. You know, my parents have been married for forty years now and they are… a unit. They belong, they're good together. That's how it's supposed to be. I don't really know any of those people of the club yet and they sure as hell throw off my balance with what they do, but…. I still have a good feeling for people and I can't see them staying with each other. Not one single couple of them felt…. like a unit, you know? I mean, Tina for instance… she's treating her husband as if he was a dog, for God's sake."

A small smile hovered at Brennan's lips. "I know. But you'll have to agree that there are and always will be relationships that aren't completely balanced… with one making decisions and one giving in. Dominance and submission."

"But it's not supposed to be like that." He argued.

"Life isn't always what it's supposed to be. The world isn't perfect and if it was you wouldn't have a job anymore." She pointed out and he had to admit that she was right.

Suddenly a smile curved his lips as he remembered the occasion when they had had a similar discussion.

"I could always ask you for coffee, then." He said.

She smiled, but it was a sad smile, a smile that didn't quite reach her eyes. "In a perfect world, there would be no murder and we would have never met, as we already concluded once."

"I'm not so sure about that." He slowly said. "Maybe some people are just meant to meet, Temperance. No matter the circumstances." His gaze connected with hers and held on to it for some time until she squirmed a little. She felt uncomfortable, insecure. "Ah… it's late." She said. "The guest room is all set up, so…."

"Yeah. Thanks." He answered and gave her another long look, then after a moment he suddenly blurted out. "Bones?"

She stopped on her way to her bedroom and turned around. "Are we okay?" He asked.

Brennan looked at her partner. He was an attractive man. He believed in God and in finding a special someone to spend your life with. He was the best friend she could wish for. Right now, she supposed, she shouldn't be asking for more.

So she nodded. "Yeah, we're good."

A relieved smile bloomed on his face and he winked at her. "Great. Good night." He walked towards the guest room and she went into her bedroom.

When she was lying in her bed, she didn't long for sex, as she'd had before the conversation with Booth.

She found it odd and irritating….but she longed for somebody to hold her.

* * *

ooookay, please let me know what you think about this chapter. What do you think about the guy following them?

Reviews make me very, very happy.


	12. Chapter 12

And hi again! Thank you all so much for reading and of course for your reviews, your wonderful comments. I'm glad you seem to like this story so far!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 12

Brennan yawned and stumbled out of her bedroom towards the kitchen, rubbing her tired eyes. Coffee, she decided, was what she needed right now. Lots and lots of it. She yawned again, and her gaze settled on the kitchen table, then moved on the door… where she saw a pair of men's shoes.

She nearly yelped when the realisation hit her. She was not alone. This was not just another ordinary Saturday morning. She remembered that Booth had been forced to stay in her apartment for the night. And she was wearing nothing more than a t-shirt that barely hit the middle of her thighs. Not exactly appropriate clothing, huh? Not to mention that she probably looked horrible, with her hair standing up and all.

Which shouldn't bother her, but it did anyway.

Brennan hurried back towards her bedroom, when the door of the guest room opened and her partner emerged. The momentum carried her forward and she collided with the bare-chested man, who instinctively reached out to steady her. "Huh." He made, clearly overwhelmed by the fact that a barely clothed woman almost ran him over a few moments after waking up.

"Sorry." Brennan quickly steadied herself and pulled back from his warm chest. "I just wanted… to go …"

She smiled almost shyly at him and pointed at her bedroom door. He stepped aside to let her pass and she was relieved to be able to put some distance between them. The close proximity to his bare and muscled chest had caused certain urges to awake she rather had left sleeping, since there would be no relieving them with him.

She hurried into her bedroom and closed the door behind her, taking in a deep, calming breath. Just hormones, she told herself. A chemical process.

* * *

Outside, Booth was still standing there, dumbfounded, staring at her now closed bedroom door. He'd opened the guest room door because he needed to go to the bath room and a split second later his partner had been in his arms. Which had been a nice surprise, all in all. Especially since she'd looked a little flustered … and he'd seen that she'd been wearing only a flimsy t-shirt, which ended mid-thigh on her long and sexy legs. A nice sight, he had to admit. Her bed head had been admirable too. He swallowed hard and forced himself not to think of her appearance. It didn't matter, did it? She wanted to have sex to make them more convincing. The absolutely wrong reason, in his opinion. So, no sex. Get a grip, Seeley.

He gave her bedroom door another long look, then shook his head and entered the bathroom. The mere sight of her half-clothed body and her messy hair in the morning had his hormones firing on all cylinders. She had been right, on some level, he had to admit… Had been right saying that they wouldn't be convincing as a married couple that felt the need to go to a swinger club to find sexual fulfilment. Because he was quite sure that they'd be perfectly able to find sexual fulfilment with each other.

* * *

"He's gone, right?" She asked, only two steps behind him. He had paused in the door, for just a moment to survey the surroundings, before determinedly walking towards his car. "Yeah." He confirmed. The man that had followed them home to her apartment and watched her window had left some time during the night. Which didn't surprise Booth. It would have been quite obvious and stupid to stay in clear sight until the morning.

"You'll be at the Jeffersonian, I guess?" He asked, fully well knowing that Brennan would be working… as she so often did on Saturdays. Or even Sundays.

"Sure." She nodded, stopping by her own car that was parked beside his. "And you'll be at the Hoover, I assume?" He paused, too, standing beside her and nodded.

"Yeah. I hope to be able to dig something out on the guy that followed us. And I gotta run the people we met yesterday, too." They looked at each other for a moment, unsure what to do.

"In case somebody is watching." She said and placed a kiss on his cheek. His eyes widened in surprise, but he quickly caught himself. "That's not quite how married couples usually kiss." He grinned at her, not quite sure if it was the right thing to say.

She cocked an eyebrow at his words. "We're not posing as newlyweds." He stifled a sigh, then simply nodded. "Right."

Before he turned towards his car, he gave her an intense look and said. "Keep an eye on traffic behind you. If you spot a tail, keep on driving and call me. Don't stop, okay? Just keep on driving….maybe to a shopping center or something. Something that doesn't look suspicous, and has a lot of people."

"I won't to lead him to the Jeffersonian." There was the barest hint of insult in her voice, as if he had implied she was stupid.

"That's only part of the my concern, Bones. You keep on driving and call me…. Okay? Promise me, you won't stop." Booth said, worry in his voice. "It might be dangerous."

"Okay." She nodded in agreement.

"I could always drop you off at the lab." He offered hopefully. He didn't expect her to accept his offer, but he felt a little better after at least suggesting it. How was a man supposed to hide his concern for a woman that meant so much to him, he wondered.

"No." She shook her head. "There's no need, Booth. I'm perfectly fine driving on my own."

He sighed again, but nodded. "Okay. I'll let you know as soon as I found something. Do me a favor and let me know when you leave the lab, okay?" She acknowledged his request by another simple nod, then turned to open the door of her car, as suddenly something occurred to her. They still hadn't decided what they'd do about the next meeting…. and not even when the next meeting was going to be.

"Booth." She addressed him and he stopped. "Are we going to go to Sinner's Palace this evening?"

He shrugged. "Probably not. Depends on what I can find out about the people we met. I'll let you know. But I think we shouldn't push it. Terry wasn't too happy with Gloria suggesting we should come today."

"Right." She said, entered her car and slammed the door shut.

Brennan was not quite sure if she should be relieved or disappointed about not going there this evening.

Irritated at her own insecurity about that matter, she rolled her eyes. He was right, she told herself, he needed to find as much information as possible on the people they had met before the next meeting. And pushing it would only endanger their cover. And that would ruin the little bit of investigation they had managed so far. Might destroy their best chance at solving the case.

But still… somehow she had liked posing at Roxy. Tony had looked at Roxy as if there was nothing in the world he wanted more than her.

Brennan only wished Booth would look at her like that. Somehow the longing feeling startled her.

She turned the key in the ignition and briefly closed her eyes, tried to clear her head of these irrational thoughts. Booth had no business being on her mind all the time. He was her partner, her friend.

She just really, really needed to relieve her biological urges, that was all. That was why it suddenly appeared to be so important to be attractive for him. Just her body – and mind – reacting to hormones. It was just science, after all. A normal reaction. Attraction to a well-built specimen of the other gender. Perfectly normal.

* * *

Well, what do you say? You liked it? Booth bare-chested. Yum-yum. How can these two resist each other, anyway?

Now, what do you think is Brennan going to do now, huh? Does she realise what it all means or does she manage to explain it all with her scientific mumbo-jumbo ?


	13. Chapter 13

Hello again. Thank you all for reading and special thanks to my reviewers. In case I forgot to answer somebody's review, I'm sorry, but since there were some changes on the page, review replies were disabled for some time... Be assured that I value every single review - you are awesome!

Here we go, the next chapter is ready.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 13

Brennan was staring at the remains on the steel table in front of her, concentrating on making out abnormalities that may help her find out more about the murder weapon that had been used on Janice and Harry Freeport. After a few hours of work, still no luck. They had determined that it had been a knife of some sort, but since the bodies had been gnawed at by local wildlife for some days, there was not that much tissue left. Which didn't upset her at all, since she had no business working with fleshy remains. The thing was, there were only a few scratches on the ribcage of both victims, and they did not tell her enough about the murder weapon to chose one knife.

She shook her head. She should have known that her grad students would have done a good job examining the bodies, but she still liked to come back and do a secondary examination herself. The only one she'd trusted enough to make an examination on his own had been Zach. Obviously, her trust had been misplaced, so she needed to go over the findings herself again, just to make sure. She had no intention trusting the wrong people ever again.

Suddenly Brennan heard a sound somewhere in the lab and she stilled in her movement for a moment, then resumed her normal work as if nothing had happened. But she was on alert and assured herself that the assortment of knives the grad students hadn't been able to rule out was not too far away. Out of the corner of her eyes, she scanned the area and silently cursed the elevated position of the platform. She couldn't see what was going on in the near vicinity of the platform without moving to the rim. And that would be just plain stupid.

And unfortunately she was standing with her back to the stairs that led up to the platform. But turning around now would show the intruder that she'd heard something, right?

Then she suddenly she heard the unmistakeable sound of the card reader acknowledging a valid card behind her and she let out a relieved breath. She hadn't realised how much the fact that somebody had followed them to her apartment was bothering her.

"Bren." Her best friend addressed her. "What the hell are you doing here on a sunny Saturday morning, huh?"

"Hi Ange. I'm working. What are you doing here?" Brennan said without looking up.

"Looking for you. You didn't answer your phone at home and I guess you once again left your cell phone in your office, cause you didn't answer it. Am I right?" Angela asked.

Now Brennan looked up at her best friend. "I did?" She frowned, then took off her gloves to pat the pockets of her coat. "I guess you're right. It should be in my purse." Brennan reached for a new pair of gloves, then her eyes widened a little. "Would you get it for me? And don't tell Booth I left it in the office again."

Angela rolled her eyes. "Why shouldn't I tell Booth? He always rants at you about it and then I don't have to do it. Why don't you come with me for a moment, Sweetie? Janice and Harry won't go anywhere and you could tell me how you evening in Sinner's Palace went. I'm dying to know."

Brennan gave her friend a long look, then shrugged. She knew Angela would pester her until she had all the details she wanted to know about…. And while getting interrogated by Angela, concentrated working wouldn't be possible anyway.

"I suppose I could take a break." She said and they walked towards her office together.

"Okay, now…. Details, sweetie. How did Booth react to your outfit?" Angela asked when they were sitting comfortably on the couch in Brennan's office.

Brennan frowned again. "I thought you wanted to know about the evening at Sinner's Palace, about our suspects?"

"Oh, la-di-da. Sure, you can tell me about that too…. but hey, I'm at work on a Saturday morning, so indulge me and tell me if Booth's mouth watered when he saw you?" Angela grinned.

"How would I know.? I don't make a habit of checking if he's salivating." Her best friend answered defensively.

"Bren, don't give me the stupid act. You know what I'm talking about. How did he react to your outfit as sexy Roxy, huh?" Angela's voice was stern now.

"I had the coat on when he came to get me." Brennan tried another evasive manoeuvre.

"Which you didn't keep on all evening. Stop stalling and get to the juicy details. NOW." Angela stared at the forensic anthropologist.

"When we were in the car, he kind of implied I could be wearing nothing under that coat." Brennan reported and had Angela's chin fall down. "WHAT? He asked if you were naked under the coat?"

"No." Brennan shook her head. "That's not what I said. He…. Stared at my legs and said something like… "I hope that's not what it looks like." You know, I was wearing a short skirt, so there was a lot of skin showing."

Brennan cleared her throat, recalling how Booth had been staring at her repeatedly. And how she had told him to keep his eyes on the road, telling him that there was nothing he hadn't seen before. She remembered his answer to that and she had to suppress a shudder. His voice had sounded hungry, husky, sexy….

And Temperance Brennan decided to leave that part out of her report to her best friend.

Angela giggled at the thought of a shocked Booth thinking Brennan would go exhibitionistic on him. "Okay. Cute. What happened then?"

"Well, we drove to the Sinner's Palace. I drove by the house during the day once and it didn't look all that outstanding, but it's quite amazing in the dark. They have fake torches leading towards the house and there are flames painted on the building, which they seem to illuminate with something, too. I'm not sure how they…"

Angela interrupted her. "I'm not interested in the HOUSE, Bren. Well, maybe how it looks on the inside, but I really wanna know what Booth had to say about your outfit."

"Well nothing, really." Brennan answered truthfully. "We were already inside and he had to play his role. He… failed a little though. He stared. The man that took my coat got suspicious so I told him that this was kind of a game, me dressing up without him knowing what I'll be wearing."

"Smart." Angela nodded approvingly. "So he HAD a reaction to your outfit." She snickered. "I knew it."

"I was …. practically advertising my female attributes, Angela…. Men generally are susceptible to that. It's a natural reaction." Brennan threw in.

"Sweetie. Booth is not just any man and you're not only boobs and ass to him, that's for sure. But it's nice to know he can admire those parts of you too, right?" Angela waggled her eyebrows.

"He didn't say that. I think he was merely surprised." Brennan gave back.

"Su-u-u-u-re. Just surprised. I'm so NOT convinced. But go on." Angela nodded toward her best friend to continue with her story.

Brennan told her about how they had met the owner and their brief talk to him. The image of the wooden door let Angela sigh. "I'd love to see that myself." She nodded dreamily, then snickered. "I bet Booth blushed."

"He didn't." Brennan was quick to defend her partner. "He's pretty good at playing a role."

"Is he, really?" Angela gave the other woman a sly smile and winked at her. "What then?"

Brennan informed the artist about the people they had met, gathered around the big wooden table in the impressive hall. When she mentioned the bed in front of the fireplace and the alcoves Angela shook her head. "Wow. They sure aren't shy."

"Definitely not. Vivian and some of the others even had intercourse in one of the alcoves when Booth, Terry and I returned." Brennan agreed.

"What? Wait, wait… RETURNED? As in you were gone with the two hunks? Hot damn, Bren, what did you do?" The artist's eyes were huge, her excitement barely contained.

"Nothing, really! Terry gave us the tour." Brennan quickly answered.

"Oh." Angela sighed, and she seemed almost disappointed.

"They have a big whirlpool and a sauna." Brennan informed her. "The room is held in roman style. Impressive. And we had Terry telling us about the video-equipment. They have one bedroom where you can type yourself and your sex partners. We don't know where they keep the originals yet, but I made Terry tell us about how you can take copies home." Remembering how she had felt during that talk let her take in a deep breath.

Angela grinned. "God, I would have loved to see that. Booth and you talking about taping your sexcapades."

"It's not Booth and me, Angela. It's Roxy and Tony. And what are sexcapades?" Brennan threw in.

"Sex escapades, Sweetie. And you really want to tell me that there's no Brennan in Roxy?" The artist asked. "Just remember you keep on saying Booth and I… not Tony and Roxy."

Brennan scowled at the other woman. "Well, I'm telling this out of my viewpoint, that's why I use first person. I would be perfectly able to give my report in third person, if you want me to."

Angela shook her head. "You sure are touchy today. Is… something wrong, Bren?"

Brennan bit her lip but shook her head. "No. I didn't get much sleep, that's all. We came back at about 12:30 and then we had to write down everything to make sure we didn't forget anything. Booth's trying to find out as much as possible about the people we met before deciding if we should meet them again this evening."

"They're having another meeting this evening? Busy, busy. Or greedy." Angela grinned.

"My impression was, Terry didn't want to invite us. It was Gloria who told us about it. I don't think we'll be going there this evening…. Booth thinks pushing it too much would look suspicious." Brennan explained.

"Or he doesn't want to see other men ogling you again." Angela winked at her friend.

"Angela, why are you always implying Booth could be jealous or territorial about me? He doesn't … see me like that." Brennan had to swallow hard and Angela's eyes widened when she heard the faint note of hurt in her best friend's voice.

"Wait a minute. Did he say that, Bren? Did he say that he doesn't see you like that?" Angela asked, genuinely concerned now. She was sure she hadn't been imagining the pain in Brennan's voice.

"No. But there is no need. I know it." Brennan replied and the tone in her voice didn't leave any place for discussions.

Angela opened her mouth to ask Brennan something, when the ringing of a cell phone interrupted them.

Brennan reached for her phone and looked at the caller ID. "It's Booth." She informed Angela before answering.

* * *

Yeah, yeah… I know. Why leave it there, huh? Because the chapter would be too long otherwise. YES, it would be.

And I like it when you invent colourful insults - insert evil laugh - sooo, fire away :)

Please let me know what you think!


	14. Chapter 14

Seriously. No real threats? I'm kinda concerned. There used to be so many creative people out there, threatening me with furbys, flying monkeys and stuff. Ah, the good old times….

Just kidding.

Thank you all so much for reading and reviewing – you all ROCK!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 14

"No, Booth. I didn't see anybody. I would have called, you know that." Brennan snarled at the phone. His questions somehow made her grumpy. As if she'd kept it to herself in case she'd seen something suspicious.

"I kept my eye on the traffic behind me, just as you told me. Why are you calling now, anyway? Isn't it a bit late now…." She checked her watch. "… nearly three hours since I left home?" The sly smile vanished when she heard his answer and Angela had the rare treat to see her best friend squirm uncomfortably.

"Oh. You did what?...Okay, okay. I'm sorry, I forgot my phone in the office." Brennan even apologised, Angela noted. The talk about keeping an eye on the traffic worried her, though. Something was wrong, something Brennan hadn't told her. Angela was going to wheedle the information out of her, that was for sure.

"Tonight?" Brennan asked, clearly surprised. "No, I don't have a problem with it. It's just you said…"

Her voice trailed off and she seemed to be listening intently.

"Oh. And…. Are you okay with that?" She asked, then listened for a moment and snorted in amusement. "Tell him, I don't mind. The sooner we close this case, the better." Another pause. "Okay. Send it over. And I'll be leaving here at about five or so." Brennan nodded and rolled her eyes before saying. "Yes, I'll call. Bye, Booth."

Brennan took in a deep breath and looked at her best friend. "We'll go to Sinner's Palace again this evening. Cullen thinks the risk of another couple maybe getting targeted is too high to worry over about finesse. He said if I don't mind sacrificing a Saturday evening, we need to find out if there is a connection between the murder and the club as soon as possible. Booth is going to send me what he has found on the suspects so far."

"So, you'll be dressing up again this evening." Angela grinned. "Good. You'll wear the blue dress, right?"

Brennan shrugged. "I guess. There is no specific dress code, so it doesn't matter…. But I wore something like that yesterday, so I think I should go with a similar style."

"Okay. Since we covered that…." Angela's face suddenly was stern. "What was this about keeping an eye on traffic? Somebody following you? Should I be worried?"

"No, Ange, really. It's nothing. A guy from the club followed us to my apartment. Luckily Booth spotted him when he was about to leave or our cover would have been blown." Brennan said.

"A guy followed you? And I shouldn't worry? He knows where you live, for God's sake." Angela's eyes were huge. "How can we be sure he didn't follow you here, huh?"

"That's why I had to keep an eye on traffic behind me. Booth called me to check on me…. but I was already working. So he had one of the security guards check if I was here." She sighed.

"That's…. sweet. But the guy still knows where you live!" Angela bristled at the thought of her friend in danger.

"No, he knows where Roxy and Tony are living." Brennan corrected.

"Oh, screw that" Angela scowled, then she paused. "Wait a minute. Does that mean… Booth stayed with you last night?" Her best friend nodded. Angela's eyes glittered with excitement, but before she could say anything Brennan frowned at her and said: "In my guest room, Ange."

"Okay. Got it." Angela sighed inwardly, but decided not to push the matter…. Especially since something else popped up in her mind. "Wait… how come somebody could follow you without Booth noticing. Isn't he supposed to be trained for these things?"

"Ah…." Angela watched incredulously when Brennan shifted uncomfortably again. "We kind of… had a discussion, so he didn't pay attention, I guess."

"What kind of….discussion?" Angela asked, sensing that there had to be more behind it to get Brennan to look so flustered.

"It was pertaining to the case. Nothing… important." The forensic anthropologist forced out. But Angela had been her best friend for more than just one day. She heard the little hitch in her voice, heard – once again – the hint of hurt. Saw that her best friend was avoiding her eyes.

"Bren. I'm your friend, let me be there for you. Friends tell friends what's hurting them." Angela addressed the other woman.

"It doesn't matter." Brennan forced out, although she knew herself, that it was a lie. It mattered too much. That was the problem.

"Then why are you looking as if somebody died, huh? Sweetie. You can tell me, whatever it is." Angela kept her voice low.

Somehow she was glad that she'd come here to meet her friend on this Saturday morning. The lab was deserted and nobody was going to interrupt them. There was no work Brennan could use as excuse to avoid the girl talk. And by the looks of her, she needed the girl talk desperately.  
And if it would lead to tears, nobody would see. It was the right place and the right time. Angela moved a little closer to her friend and whispered. "Sweetie. Tell me. You'll feel better afterwards."

"I'm not so sure about that." Brennan objected weakly. "How would speaking about a problem, which is not solvable, help me?"

"Just tell me. Then we'll see if there is a problem. And then we'll decide if it's solvable or not." Angela gave back calmly, though the hopeless tone in her best friend's voice had shocked her. Whatever it was, that was bothering her, it had worked her up good.

Brennan took in a deep breath. Was telling Angela going to change anything? No, she decided. It wouldn't. Booth wouldn't magically change his mind and want her just because she'd told Angela about it. But… maybe she'll feel better. Maybe not.

She looked in her best friend's compassionate eyes and did what Booth had so often advised her to do: She used her heart rather than her brain.

"I… I suggested having sex." She forced out and Angela nearly jumped off the couch, gaping at the forensic anthropologist.

"Wha…what? Okay. Okay. We'll just calm down here. Start at the beginning." Angela forced herself to recover from the shock that it seemed that - oh joy! – Brennan had been the one who'd made the first move.

By suggesting having sex. And knowing Brennan, she might have phrased it exactly like that. Angela sighed.

"We were driving back from the club. The group had been talking about how a couple usually talks about sexual preferences during the second meeting. What the partner likes to do to you or have you doing, you know? So, how are Roxy and Tony supposed to handle this? We don't know each other on this level and it's hard to lie convincingly. Especially for Booth. And we are supposed to be open to new sexual experiences, not shy Catholics. Terry even suggested SHOWING what we like to do." It all poured out of Brennan in one big heap.

Angela remained silent, although it was hard, knowing it was best not to interrupt Brennan when she was in a talkative mood. They were rare enough.

"And I thought acquiring that knowledge about each other might come in handy." Brennan said, her voice low and a little unsteady. "So I suggested we should have sex. We'd be more credible."

Angela suppressed a groan and held back the tirade she wanted to let loose on Brennan.

"But… he seemed to be shocked by the mere imagination. He said that he wouldn't sleep with me because of the case. Said that he wanted to close the case, but not at any cost. So, you see…. " Brennan paused for a moment and Angela saw that she was swallowing hard. "….despite his reaction to the clothes I wore, he doesn't want me. I told you, he doesn't see me like that. He sees me as his friend and partner, not… as.... more." The last word was forced out, as if it had been choking her and Angela gave her friend a long look. She looked worn-out. Sad. Heart-broken.

"You think he doesn't want you." Angela repeated slowly.

"Well, he made it quite clear." Brennan sighed. "I've been attracted to him, but he… drew a line, so I respected it. But it seems it hardly matters that I did, since he never wanted me."

"Oh, Bren." Angela shook her head at her clueless friend. "The sexual tension between you and Booth, Sweetie, is nearly knocking me off my feet sometimes."

"You're wrong, Angela." Brennan scowled at her seemingly stubborn friend.

"No. You are." Angela sighed again and gave her best friend a long, measuring look. "I thought I shouldn't meddle with this, but you reached a point…. I can't just watch anymore. You hurt, I can see it. I'm your best friend, I can't have you hurting." Angela moistened her lips before continuing. "Promise me something, Bren."

Brennan just looked at her questioningly.

"You'll just listen to me. I'll tell you a few things and when I'm finished I want you to simply consider what I tell you might be true and what you just told me might not. Just…. Promise me you'll listen and think about it."

The forensic anthropologist gave her one of her irritated and somewhat confused looks, but she nodded.

"Say it." Angela urged her.

"Okay. I promise to listen to you and think about it." Brennan vowed.

"Good. You've got some water or something?" Angela asked.

"I'm supposed to think about that?" Brennan arched eyebrow at her.

"No, really!" Angela gave her an exasperated look. "You should give me something to drink, so that I can tell you. It might take a while and my throat is dry already."

"Oh." Brennan mumbled, somewhat embarrassed and went to her desk to retrieve two bottles of water, then sat down beside Angela once more. "Okay. I talk, you listen." Angela Montenegro said to her friend. And for once, the forensic anthropologist didn't say anything and simply nodded.

* * *

Yeah, yeah, I KNOW. I'm E-E-E-EVIL. ;) I can't help it.

Please let me know what you think about this chapter, okay? Then I'll be quicker with my update :)


	15. Chapter 15

Ah, so many wonderful reviews. You are the best, best, best readers! Love you all. Especially kong-foo monkeys and other creative threats! GREAT!

Here we go, the next chapter is ready.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 15

Angela poured down water, then looked at her friend and sighed inwardly. She loved Brennan like a sister, but sometimes she had to fight the urge to yell at her.

"Okay. Here is my take on this." Angela said, her gaze fixed on the forensic anthropologist's eyes.

"Booth wants you." Brennan blinked at Angela's blunt words and shook her head. "No, haven't you been listening to what I …"

Angela raised one finger at her best friend. "Ah-ah. I talk, you listen. No interruptions. You promised."

Brennan's mouth closed slowly. Angela watched her take in a deep breath and nod.

Satisfied, the artist continued. "I think, that Booth wants you very much, Bren. But the most important thing for him is, to make sure you're comfortable, that you're happy. And he thinks you're comfortable with your friendship, so that's why he doesn't …. put the moves on you. He's done so many wonderful things for you, things a man doesn't do for just ANY woman. You don't see it, Sweetie, but I sometimes catch him watching you, smiling. Awfully sweet, really. And not the kind of smile FBI agents reserve for partners, Bren."

Angela took in another deep breath. She saw that her best friend was frowning at her, clearly trying to process what Angela had told her… and obviously not ready to believe a single word of it.

"And now there is this case. You pretend to be Roxy and Tony. And I know you're pretty comfortable with playing a role. But, Sweetie, by suggesting having sex to be more credible you put Booth into a very uncomfortable situation. I'm sure he wants you very much, but not like that. You said that Booth said… he wants to close the case but not at any cost, right?" The artist asked her friend who mutely nodded, eyes wide.

"I can't see in Booth's head, Sweetie, but I'm pretty sure about this, so … I think he doesn't want just sex. And you reduced it to exactly that. That's the problem. He thinks you just want to sleep with him to solve this case. That's why he said no. If he had no feelings for you, Sweetie, he would have said yes." Angela gave her friend an intense look. "Do you understand what I'm trying to say?"

Brennan moistened her lips and nodded slowly. "You're implying Booth might have romantical feelings for me."

"Exactly." Angela gave her best friend a relieved smile. "That's why he doesn't want a little heat between the sheets to solve a case, Sweetie. He wants the real deal, or nothing. Booth is a very honorable and patient man. He'd rather stay your friend forever than risk losing you."

Brennan frowned again. "That can't be right."

"Sweetie… why do you think you don't deserve to be loved?" Angela asked gently.

"What?" Temperance Brennan looked up in surprise. "That's…"

"The truth and we both know it. You just can't understand that somebody might love you for what and who you are. And Booth does. That's why he doesn't want to have sex with Roxy, Bren. He wants you. Not because of a case, but because of who you are." Angela stared at her best friend, willing her to understand.

"But.. no, Angela. We're just partners. We're friends. And Booth…" The scientist stumbled over her own words, disbelief etched in her face. "You're wrong."

"You promised to think about it. You'll have to let it sink in, Bren. Just … think of all the things Booth did for you. Try to look at it from an anthropological viewpoint, if that makes it easier for you…. Are you really, one hundred percent convinced that Booth did all of this out of friendship? His gifts, his concern….are those symbols for friendship? He's always there for you, when you need him, isn't he? He spends most of his time with you. Why?"

"Because we're partners. And friends." Brennan said. "He… he drew a line!" She nearly yelled it.

"When?" Angela asked.

"After… after Epps. He told me that people in high-risk jobs shouldn't be in relationships." Brennan's voice was flat.

"After Epps." Angela nodded. "Figures. Cam nearly died and Epps even had his creepy fingers on Parker. Do you really think he was thinking straight at that time, Bren? I mean, he shot a clown a few days later."

Brennan let out a shaky breath. "It wasn't a real clown. He shot the clown speaker on an ice cream truck." She automatically corrected.

"I know. That's not something he'd usually do, right?" Angela asked again.

"No, of course not. He… was under stress." Brennan defended him immediately.

"Damn right. And people say and do things they usually wouldn't if under stress."

The artist took her best friend's hand in her own. "When he told you about that line, Sweetie…. he was in shock. Cam nearly died and though he doesn't love her, she means a lot to him. Parker was in danger. You can't honestly believe Booth was thinking coherently at that time. And yesterday? I'm sure, he didn't mean to say that he doesn't want you, Bren. He meant he doesn't want you like THAT. Not just sex. Booth wants to be the ONE man in your life, do you understand? The one. Not….one of many."

She saw it. The moment when the forensic anthropologist started to really THINK about what she'd been telling her instead of simply dismissing it.

"You think about it?" Angela asked. Brennan mutely nodded.

"Good. If you have questions, call me, okay?" Angela rose.

"You're leaving?" Brennan asked, almost shocked.

"Yeah. I told you what I needed to tell you. Now you've got to let it sink in. That's something you have to do on your own. Just….try to feel. And accept that people do love you, Sweetie." She winked at the somewhat panicked expression on Brennan's face.

"But.. but…" The forensic anthropologist actually stuttered. "What should I do now?"

"You were hurting. I think Booth is too. I think… you could fix it. If you want to. But that's your decision." Angela said, a smile on her face. "Have a great evening, Sweetie… and remember to call me, if you need to talk to me. Later." She waved and left the office.

Left a stunned, speechless and confused Temperance Brennan sitting on her couch.

* * *

Hah. Girl talk is over. Now what do you think is Brennan going to do? Was Ange in character?

Reviews make me HAPPY!


	16. Chapter 16

Hi again everybody. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews. I'm so glad you think I kept Angela and Bones both in character…. I'm putting a lot of effort into it, so it makes me happy that it seems to show. Of course, the whole situation I'm throwing our heroes in, is quite strange, so they can not stay completely in character, I guess. But be assured that I try.

Well, enough rambling.

Here is chapter 16.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 16

Booth climbed the stairs towards Brennan's apartment at half past six in the evening. They still had a lot to talk about, so they had agreed upon meeting at seven to be able to discuss the details before they had to leave at eight. But somehow he'd been nervous, anxious even. Something in Brennan's voice had been off, not quite as controlled as it usually was. And if something threw her off balance, it always dragged him over the edge with her, too. So, his worries had driven him here, half an hour earlier than they had agreed upon.

And now he was not quite sure if he should knock on her door or not.

Women tended to get testy when they got interrupted in their "dressing-up" process. But, hell, she wasn't just any woman, right? She was Bones and he'd seen her good and her bad days, right? So, she should better just accept he was here earlier. He raised his hand to knock on the door, but before he could do so, he heard a sound inside. He realised, that she had music playing while getting ready. And not the Tibetan Monks or whatever it was he had seen in her collection, no it was a song that meant something to her. To him, too, come to think of it.

'Keep on trying' by Poco.

A soft smile covered his face as he remembered how they had sung the song together in the diner after she and her father had saved him from his two torturers. He closed his eyes and pictured her, the determined expression on her face as she'd come to his aid. She really was one of a kind. While he was standing outside her apartment door, the song ended…. And begun anew. She had it on repeat, he realised. Now he was really worried. He was not quite sure if she attributed good or bad memories to the song, but setting it on repeat had to mean something, right?

He rapped his knuckles against the door of her apartment, harder than usual to make sure she heard him over the sound of the music. A few moments later the music stopped and he heard footsteps coming towards the door. Satisfied he registered a shadow falling over the spy hole for an instant, than he heard her disengage the safety bolt and open the door. "You're early." She said and arched an eyebrow at him.

Then his eyes fell on the dress that clung to her curves and he just nodded. Words simply eluded him for a moment. That dress, he decided, was as stunning as the woman wearing it. Together, the combination was fatal. Fatal for every thought he had hoped to be able to form.

Somewhere in his brain he registered that she didn't look sad or worried, though, so a relieved warmth spread in him too. Or was that warmth caused by something else entirely, he wondered. She shifted a little and he nearly groaned, then forced his gaze to settle on her face instead of roaming over her body.

She was staring at him and he realised that she was waiting for him to enter her apartment. Or show a reaction other than gaping, at the very least. "Hi Bones." He forced out, desperately trying not to ogle her cleavage. The midnight-blue dress was really something. It had a revealing neckline, cascading blue material draped to show off entirely too much of her breasts. The dress wasn't as short as the skirt she'd worn the day before, but the slit on the left side made his way up her thigh….He nearly sighed. A few scarce inches more and he would have been able to see what panties she was wearing. He hoped to God she was wearing panties. Why the hell was he thinking about her underwear? He scolded himself.

"What are you waiting for?" She asked, not quite sure what to make of the somewhat shocked expression on his face.

"Ah… nothing. Just….ah…. That's a very nice dress, Bones." He was really proud he had been able to form a whole sentence. He watched a pleased smile blossom on her face. "Thanks. Ange helped me pick it out. It's not too… much, is it?"

He blinked and tried to process her question, then he gave her an almost pained smile. "Definitely not too much material here. More bordering on not enough."

"It's too revealing? But… the skirt I wore yesterday was shorter." She arched eyebrow at him and he forced himself to shake his head. "No, no, Bones. It looks great, really. It's…. going to make the other women want to scratch out your eyes, though."

She frowned at him, then shook her head. "There is no reason for them to attack me."

"They're going to be jealous." He tried to make her understand by rephrasing it.

"No. I don't think there's reason for jealousy." She shook her head again.

"But you look absolutely stunning." He said. God, he hoped he wasn't drooling. He rubbed a hand over his jaw and was relieved to find it dry.

She gave him another dazzling smile. "Thank you. But I meant that they go there with the knowledge that their spouse is going to have sex with somebody else. That's what they're all there for. I don't think that they will react jealous."

"Oh. Yeah, right." Booth was quick to nod.

"Why are you so early? I'm not ready yet…. I still have to do my hair and my make up is not quite finished." She said and gave him an almost shy smile.

"It looks fine to me." Booth said, his voice a little rough. She had put on that smoky eyes thing again… no lip stick yet, though, he noticed. And her hair….it looked great to him. But it looked like Bones, not Roxy, he realised.

With some fascination he watched her blush. Which had to be a trick of the light, or maybe just the stuff women applied to their cheeks to make them look rosier. Yeah, that had to be it.

"Give me ten minutes. I made some notes that add to the things you found out. On the kitchen table." She gestured towards the kitchen and he nodded. "There's coke in the fridge." She said and took in a deep breath. "I'll get it."

"No, it's fine, Bones. I'll get it. You… do whatever it is you want to do with your hair." Booth waved it off.

"It's called backcombing. You take a comb and... ." She started and he grinned and interrupted her. "I don't need details. I'm okay with admiring the outcome." She looked flustered again and he scolded himself silently for the… maybe hundredth slip of tongue since they'd started that undercover assignment. Admiring, huh?

He watched her walk towards the bathroom and closed his eyes when he caught himself ogling her butt in that sinful blue dress that seemed to advertise it rather than simply covering it. Mentally he counted to ten before opening his eyes again. Then he helped himself to a coke and sat down at her kitchen table to review the notes she'd made.

Her addition to Vivian Corrigan's sheet made him snort in amusement. "Seems to be very interested in Tony." Brennan had written. Something caught his eye and he frowned. She'd made her additions with a pencil, but the paper seemed a little blurry…. And he suddenly realised she had written 'Booth' initially….then erased it and corrected it to 'Tony'. The fact that even Temperance Brennan seemed to mix up their roles with reality pleased him in an odd way.

He went through the notes and nodded when he read her notes to Andrew Prickett. It hadn't been that hard to find data on him, since he'd told Brennan that he was a dentist. Not that many dentists with the first name of Andrew at Washington, but still enough to keep you busy. But only one of them drove a Porsche 911 Speedster from 1966. The car Gloria had told Tony she'd worked on for her husband. According to Gloria, that had been the way they had met.

Brennan had added. "Interested in Roxy, but not pushy or too obvious. Seems to be fixated on fingernails, maybe because his wife's are short and not polished – most likely due to her line of work."

Gloria received another comment from Brennan that made Booth grin. "Interested in Tony. Enjoys conversation about her work. Ogled Tony when he left the table." His grin widened when he realised she'd written Booth again instead of Tony and had had to erase and replace it.

"Why are you grinning?" Her voice drifted towards him and he looked up. Her appearance once again took his breath away. Now her hair was sexily tousled and the lip stick was applied too. She looked sexy as sin and he had to remind himself to breathe. "Hi Roxy." He said after a moment.

"Hi Tony." She gave back.

* * *

Yeah, yeah. Evil Cheese, what the hell, why do you end it here, blah-blah. I know.

The next chapter will be right up, in an hour or so, so no need to threaten me. Which doesn't mean I wouldn't like it if you'd took the time to place a review ;) you can even add threats and insults, I really, really don't mind. ;) THANKS!


	17. Chapter 17

Here we go…. The next chapter is picking up where chapter 16 ended. Thank you for reading and for your reviews!!! I hope I'm not going tooooo OOC with this.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 17

They stared at each other for a moment, then she repeated her question.

"Why were you grinning?"

He moistened his lips and lied. "Andrew's fixation on fingernails. You notice all kinds of things."

She shrugged slightly and the movement caused the carefully draped folds of midnight-blue material at her cleavage to shift slightly. Only to reveal even more skin. He suppressed a groan. "We need to…. settle on a strategy." He said, his voice hoarse.

She slowly nodded. "Yes. You suggested yesterday that we should go before they want us to get too explicit. I think me having a head-ache or something is easier to pull off, but you having an emergency, a problem with a system at a client of yours would be more convincing. And less… clichéd."

He simply nodded. "When it starts to go too far you could go to the toilet and call my phone. I pretend to talk to a client and then we can go." He knew it was still a little conspicuous, but he didn't care.

She nodded and gave him a long, measuring look. "What is going too far?" She asked and he could have sworn her voice was husky, too. "Kissing? Touching each other? Talking about oral sex?"

His eyes widened. He had been avoiding thinking about it the whole day, but now reality had caught up with him quite brutally when Brennan so bluntly asked how far they'd go. Yes, he knew, they'd had to give the sinners SOMEthing, at least a kiss or talking about sex. But… the mere imagination made his pulse quicken.

"I don't know. That's something we need to discuss now I guess."

"We could still try to get some first-hand knowledge. It's not too late." Brennan said after a glance at her wrist watch.

His brain needed a moment to process her words, translate it to a suggestion to have sex. His eyes widened.

"No." He shook his head vehemently.

"Why not?" She asked and he nearly squirmed under her inquiring gaze.

"Because it would be wrong." Booth forced out, his throat dry, his voice raspy.

"We're both adults. Judging by your reaction to my outfit you're at least a little attracted to me. And I'm attracted to you." She stated bluntly.

A little attracted? Dear heavens, he was used to working with a hard-on half the time thanks to her. His strangely numb brain barely registered that she'd said she was attracted to him, too.

"Why not act on the attraction? There would be only benefits." She pushed again, determination in her voice.

And something in him snapped. "No. God. Not like this, Bones, please. Not like this." The words poured out of him before he was able to stop them. His eyes widened and he swallowed hard, knowing he'd just given admission that there was more to his feelings for her than just platonic friendship. He suppressed a sigh.

Temperance Brennan was standing in front of him, staring at him. There had been no mistaking the emotion laced in his voice, the pain, the longing, but also determination.

She was shocked. Her little experiment of pushing Booth had proven her that there was more to this relationship that just being friends. He wanted her. She wanted him. Had Angela really been right? Maybe Booth had feelings for her…Maybe there was more than just mutual respect, friendship and attraction.

She hadn't accepted the concept, not really, until now. She'd thought that she could push the matter until Booth snapped. And she'd expected him to blurt out that she was a friend, a partner, not a woman he'd want in his bed. She should have known when she'd seen his reaction to her dress, how his eyes had widened both in surprise and appreciation. She shouldn't have pushed, should have remained on the safe side, in the comfortable zone of not being confronted with FACTS. Because she could brush away suspicions in a heartbeat. But not facts.

And fact was, Booth was now sitting in front of her, a look on his face she could not decipher. Fact was that she'd heard so much emotion in his voice she'd felt her heart skip a beat. And fact was, her subconscious seemed to be pleased with his emotions…. An odd warmth had flooded her upon hearing his words. Knowing that he indeed wanted her, but not like this, as he had put it…. had left her strangely satisfied.

Booth just couldn't stand it anymore. He could see the confusion in her eyes, could nearly hear the wheels turn in her head, how she analysed his words. She'd know now that he wanted her and maybe she'd conclude that he felt more for her than just attraction and friendship. And then he was going to lose the level of trust and intimacy they'd had with each other. Because he suspected that she just wasn't ready to know that he wanted her to share his life. So she would run, erect her walls again, hide from him.

Or – and that was maybe even worse – she'd brush off his feelings, explaining in her scientific babble how what he thought he was feeling was all chemical processes, hormones and his role as alpha male. Belittle his love for her, trying to explain it away.

The mere thought of it had him avert his gaze, putting his head in his hands. He knew that it was cowardly, but he felt as if all strength had left him.

Still petrified, she watched how her partner and friend averted his gaze as if he couldn't bear looking at her anymore and how he lowered his head into his hands. She had glimpsed a look of hurt and hopelessness on his face and she simply didn't want to be the cause for his pain. But what was she going to say now? Maybe… using her heart would be the key again. Using her heart rather than her brain. After all, this was something Booth had advised her to do, so maybe it was the right thing.

"I don't want Tony." She said and his head jerked up at her words. "And you don't want Roxy."

She came closer and his breath hitched a little, when she suddenly kneeled down in front of him.

"You're giving me insights here, Bones." His voice was rough as he referred to how his slightly elevated position and the daring neckline of her dress made for a nice view, although he didn't look there, but kept his gaze on her eyes.

"I don't care." She answered, not interested in that particular problem.

"You don't want to sleep with me because of that case." She stated. He simply nodded, not sure if he'd manage to utter a single word. "What…" She hesitated, then continued. "What if there was no case?"

Her question left him somehow limp. Booth took in a deep breath, not quite sure what to answer. "It… would depend on the circumstances." He forced out, his voice not quite steady.

"What would it take?" She asked, so bluntly the only reaction he was able to produce was repeating her words. "What….would it take? What?..." He was confused, stunned and he felt a little bit like Alice in the rabbit hole.

"What circumstances would allow for you to sleep with me?" She asked and he simply stared at her, then he shook his head. "Bones…."

"Tell me. Please, Booth." Brennan said, a pleading tone in her voice. He looked down in her blue eyes and blinked. "I… " He started and had to stop again. How was he supposed to tell her what he needed, what he wanted, what would be right and what wouldn't?

"Love, Bones. It would take love." He simply said and stared at her. His words and his intense gaze had her swallowing hard. "Because anything less isn't worth risking what we have." He continued, his voice a low murmur, thick with emotion.

As she looked up into his brown eyes, the depth of his feelings so clearly visible, she wondered why she had never seen it herself, never understood what Booth was to her and she seemed to be to him.

'Too close' The analytical part of her brain told her 'Objective observations can only be made from a certain distance.' She shoved the voice aside, banned it from her conscious self.

Heart, she told herself, heart not brain.

"I'm not sure how you define love, Booth." She said slowly. "But I miss you when you're not here And… and I trust you. And I want you."

The honest tone of her words, the confidence of them made him shiver. A muffled sound tore from his throat, something she couldn't identify. She searched his eyes again, not sure about his reaction to her words. She really had no idea what loving somebody felt like. But she knew that what she felt for him was more, far more than anything she'd ever felt for somebody else.

"God, Temperance." He whispered and his hand moved to cup her cheek, his thumb caressing the soft skin. "You mean so much to me. I don't want to screw this up."

"You won't. Usually it's me who screws up." Brennan said, a hint of pain and resignation in her voice and she averted her gaze.

"No, no. Bones. Don't say that." His hand moved a little, his fingers were suddenly under her chin and he gently pushed, so that he had to look into his eyes again. "You're an amazing woman."

Fascinated, he watched her blush a little. God, she wasn't used to compliments of that sort, he knew it. She got complimented on her work, maybe even on her looks, but not on her persona. But that was what he loved most. The compassionate, strong, but still emotional woman that always searched for the truth. The woman that tried to bring justice to the dead, the woman that didn't trust easily, but trusted him. And he wasn't sure if he deserved her trust.

"Booth?" She asked, uncertainty in her eyes as he just kept on staring at her. The vulnerable look in her eyes, the fact that she was so unsure of herself, but not of the fact that she trusted him, did it. He couldn't think of anything else to show her what he felt, what he wanted and how much she meant to him, but to kiss her.

He bent down and brushed his lips over hers, kissing her in a gentle, reassuring way. He had known it would be special. They had shared a kiss, yes, but it hadn't been right. Part of a bargain, and though it had been heated, it hadn't meant anything. But this… this was something else. It was not about sex, but about love and he hoped she felt it, too. He broke the kiss after some time to draw her into his arms. He just held her close, inhaling her scent.

He felt her breath in deeply, too and smiled gently. It felt so right, so right.

"They were never guy hugs, right?" She mumbled against his shoulder and he had to chuckle.

"Oh, Bones." He whispered against her hair. "You're one of a kind." He pressed a kiss on the top of her head and the small, loving gesture, made her chest tighten a little. But it was a pleasant feeling, somehow… it had warmth spreading in her and she realised that she was truly touched by this small kiss. Such a loving gesture.

"Booth?" She asked after a moment and he mumbled. "Mhm?"

"If I'd told you…. that I want you to be the one, not one of many… Would that mean something to you?" She asked, cautiously.

He closed his eyes upon hearing her words and his breath hitched a little. "A lot." He answered after a moment, his voice rough. "It would mean a lot."

"Good." She said and snuggled a little closer. She remembered how she had somehow ached for somebody to hold her the night before.

Now she knew she hadn't been longing for just SOMEbody, but for him.

* * *

Ah, the FLUFF! Please let me know if you like it, PU-LEASE! What do you think will happen next? Did you like it, huh, huh? Did you?


	18. Chapter 18

Wow, thank you again for so many reviews. More than 400 on this story already! WOOOW! You're the best, honestly!!!! YOU ROCK! I'm so happy!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 18

"Bones?" He asked after a while and she answered with a barely audible. "Yes?"

"How come… I'm not complaining, okay? But… I need to understand…" He stumbled over his own words and stopped before completing the sentence.

But somehow, she knew what he was about to ask. He wanted to know how the socially awkward scientist had turned into the woman he was now holding in his arms. Not that she had given up being socially awkward – which she had no choice in, that was just her – or being a scientist. But she understood, that Booth didn't get her sudden change of… heart. She had to smile to herself, thinking of that particular saying.

"You always say I have to use my heart rather than my brain." She whispered. "But it took Angela to make me see things more…clearly."

He nodded, though still curious, this information was enough for him if she wasn't willing to elaborate. But - to his surprise – she continued after a short pause. "What you said yesterday….. It hurt. That you didn't want to sleep with me. That you said you wouldn't want to solve the case…. at any cost." Her voice nearly broke and his chest tightened when he heard the honesty and the hurt, that was still evident in her words.

And it struck him, that he had phrased it poorly the evening before. To her, it had to have sounded like a rejection. Booth closed his eyes, scolding himself for not thinking of the possible impact of his words on her, on her already fragile self confidence when it came to emotions.

"Bones. I never wanted to hurt you." He said and pulled back a little to be able to look into her eyes, somehow needing to see her reaction. "I didn't want to risk our friendship, our trust in each other. And…if we end up in bed together, Temperance, I intend to make love to you… not just have sex."

Her eyes glistened a little upon hearing his words and she sent him a smile that made his heart jump. It was… gentle, he realised. A genuine, gentle smile, a loving look on her face. And he could not quite get his mind around the fact, that it had to be meant for him. To be the one to put that expression on her face made him feel warm inside.

"When." She said after a long moment of silence, her gaze glued to his eyes, the small smile still in place, but it had turned from gentle and loving into something different. Sexy, suggestive, flirtatious. And very seductive.

"What do you mean?" He asked, his voice hoarse, just to make sure they were talking about the same thing.

"I think that we're past asking IF we're going to end up in bed together. The question is when." She emphasized and her words had his heart jump a little again… and heat flooded him in an instant.

But this wasn't the time, he reminded himself. They'd just admitted to each other that there was more than friendship… and soon they had to leave to socialize with the Sinners – again. He couldn't give her what she deserved now.

Booth knew better… but he still had to kiss her. And where the first kiss had been gentle, this one was passionate. His mouth crushed down on hers and without conscious thought she parted her lips for him, allowing his tongue to enter, to taste, to tease. And Brennan teased back….grabbed his shirt to drag him even nearer to her, as if she couldn't get enough.

And she couldn't. Never before had she felt that deep need, that unbearable longing to have somebody near her, touching her, tasting her. An involuntary shiver went through her as she realised at some barely conscious level, that this had to be what he had been talking about when he described making love. How it felt to be in it with heart and body. To not only have the carnal need, the lust, but a need on every level of your being.

And then, suddenly Booth pulled back, scooted away from her and left her, flushed, needy and confused.

"What? … Why?" She mumbled incoherently, not understanding why he was offering her something like that only to take it away after a short taste. It seemed cruel to her, but he wasn't a cruel man.

"I'm sorry, Bones." He whispered. "But we need to leave soon." His voice was thick with lust, husky and a little lower than usual.

She blinked, took a moment to clear her head and then checked her watch. "We still have twenty minutes." She moved closer again and it took a lot of restraint on his side to not give into the temptation and just kiss her, yank her dress up and - damn his imagination - find out what panties she wore right here and now.

"I know, but…. It's not enough, Temperance. Twenty minutes are nowhere near enough. I want to do this right, with you. Not like this. I want to give you everything, you understand?" He explained solemnly, his voice rough, his eyes both holding the gleam of lust and plea. "I don't want to have to rush because we have to go to this awful club."

She gave him one long, intense look and after a moment of considering his words she gave him a genuine smile. "Okay." She simply said.

"Okay?" He echoed, somewhat stunned. He'd been prepared for an argument.

"What you just said sounds not only reasonable…. But very nice." She said, averting her gaze a little. He could have sworn she blushed a little again. "Nobody ever…. waited for me."

His heart ached a little at her words. "I waited for a quite some time, Temperance. I don't mind waiting a little longer as long as I know you'll be there with me when the time comes." He whispered and his hand closed over hers, squeezing it gently.

"I'll be there." She answered and their gazes connected again. "How long?"

"How long…what?" He frowned a little, not sure what she meant.

"How long have you been …waiting for me?" She asked, the expression in her eyes both thoughtful and curious.

"My whole life." He answered, then grinned. "Now that sounds cheesy. But….a long time, Bones. It doesn't matter, though. You're worth waiting for."

Her breath hitched a little at his words and though she'd felt good already, his words made her feel even better….warm, comfortable. Loved. "Angela…She said... That I have to accept that there are people who…love me."

"She's a smart woman." Booth commented, then he took her face in his hands, his eyes searching hers.

The expression in them was so intense, so full of emotion, Brennan had to swallow hard. "I miss you when you're not here, too. And I trust you and I want you. I love you, Temperance."

Her knees suddenly felt week and she was glad she was sitting… or they surely would have buckled under her. She felt a prickling sensation flood her and a telltale burning in her eyes. If that was love, it sure was a powerful thing, she thought.

He saw how his words had moved her and that she understood now. That she understood, that missing somebody, trusting and wanting somebody….all those things were part of loving that somebody.

And though she wasn't able to define love – and nobody could, he knew – he was convinced she was more than only capable of feeling it. And he hoped that she felt it for him and would never stop.

Booth watched her eyes glisten with unshed tears and he shook his head slightly. "Don't cry, you'll ruin your make-up." He grinned as it had the desired effect: She chuckled. "Maybe there's something in my eye." She said.

"Yeah, right." He winked at her and gave her a quick, affectionate kiss on the cheek. "I'd love to stay here, but we need to leave soon." With a heavy heart, he rose and looked down at the woman in the blue dress.  
His partner. If possible, she looked even more beautiful than before. Her face a little flushed and her lips a little swollen from his kisses. He frowned as his gaze lingered on her red lips. "Do I have lipstick on my face now?"

Brennan gazed up at him and had to smile at his scowl. "No. Long-lasting lipstick. According to the commercials it should hold for twelve hours."

"I'm going to test that." He promised and her smile widened. "That's a good plan." She commented.

"Yeah." He nodded and they stared at each other again, somehow lost in each others eyes, in the moment.

She blinked and averted her gaze. "We still didn't agree on how far we'll go at Sinner's Palace."

His face turned serious in an instant.. "Only what we shared here already, only kissing. Anything else… it belongs to us, okay? Something I only want to share with you. I sure as hell don't want to entertain these pervs. Is that…. okay with you?" He asked cautiously.

"Yes." She simply said and he was relieved that she agreed with him.

"We still have another problem, though." She said and when he just stared at her, she continued. "We're supposed to be more or less bored with each other. Sexually, I mean."

"And?" He prompted.

"That doesn't look very bored. Nor boring, from my point of view." She pointed at his crotch, where his jeans bulged in a very prominent way.

Booth glanced down. "Oh." He grinned sheepishly. "Yeah, well. You just had to wear that dress, huh?"

He took in a deep, calming breath and tried to tone his hormones down a little.

"Angela helped me pick out a few outfits for this assignment. For being Roxy." Brennan said, amused by his efforts not to show his desire for her quite so obviously.

"Good thing it is that I don't want Roxy, right? Okay, okay… I'm Tony, you're Roxy and we've been married for three years and we're totally bored with each other." He slowly said.  
God, he couldn't imagine losing his desire for Bones after three years. Bored, for God's sake. How could that woman ever get boring, huh?

No, he was sure, that Temperance Brennan would always fascinate him.

Roxy, he told himself, Roxy would get boring. She was too flirtatious, too vain and too superficial for him. And that did the trick.

"I think we have an appointment, Roxy-darling." He said, using the more jovial tone he reserved for Tony.

Brennan reached for the glasses that were part of her role, put them on and said. "Well, what are we waiting for, Tony?"

* * *

Slowly, but steadily we're getting to the phase where things will heat up a little.

Do I hear a yay? I CAN'T HEAR YOU!

DO I HEAR A YAY ??????????????

Reviews would be super-awesome!


	19. Chapter 19

Hello again. I know it took longer this time, to post an update, but I hope you're still interested.

Thank you for your reviews, every single one is appreciated!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 19

"Roxy, Tony…. How wonderful. Terry just told us you'd be joining us again today… and here you are." Andrew's gaze skimmed over Brennan's body, the way the midnight blue dress accentuated her female curves. Booth caught the interested gaze of the older man and fought down the urge to draw her nearer, to defend his territory. She'd object to both the sentiment and the phrasing, he was sure of it. She was not his territory and damn-well didn't need to get defended. But still… Andrew's lingering gaze on her body made him want to go into full alpha-male mode.

And that was exactly the kind of behaviour he couldn't display. He briefly closed his eyes and reminded himself that he was Tony and the woman beside him was Roxy. Same Roxy he'd been married to for years.

He just hoped he'd get through the evening without punching somebody. Somehow the earlier conversation and the contact with Bones had not soothed his mind at all… if anything it just made him feel more on alert, ready to show anybody that the woman was his, now that he could fully acknowledge his feelings towards her to himself.

Brennan smiled a Roxy-smile at Andrew. Flirtatious, promising and definitely encouraging and Booth had to bite his lower lip not to blurt out she shouldn't be encouraging the other man. Because he simply couldn't guarantee he wasn't going to slug him if he hit on her only a little more obviously.

"This," Gloria addressed them. "Are Sybil and Marc." She introduced them to the couple they hadn't met the evening before. "It's a pleasure to meet you." Roxy said smoothly and extended her hand towards the woman with the spiky red hair and various piercings. Her husband didn't look much different, except that his hair was black instead of red. And he had some intriguing tattoos all over his bare chest. His well-toned muscled chest. She had to admit, the man looked hot. His hand was warm and strong when he took hers in his and his interested gaze lingered on her. "Definitely my pleasure." He said in a warm and cultivated voice that didn't quite seem to go with his appearance. The contrast was even more intriguing.

Brennan nearly felt Booth vibrate with anger beside her. He was masking his – to her so obvious – displeasure about the two men so openly checking her out remarkably well, but she knew it was an effort for him. Unfortunately there was nothing she could do about it. She had to play her role and so had he. They had to be Sinners.

"Tony!" Their heads turned at the exclamation from the other side of the room and she was not surprised to see Vivian waving at them. "Hi Roxy." The older woman added as an afterthought. Vivian was draped in something in canary-yellow this evening and Brennan wondered if the other woman knew the color was probably hurting everybody's eyes. Maybe she was trying to get the men to undress her more quickly through that. Vivian hurried over to greet Tony, her impressive breasts bouncing up and down, her hips swaggering. "Tony…" She drawled his name out. "You just left yesterday." She pouted. "I would have loved to talk to you."

'Sure.' Brennan thought sarcastically. Vivian was all talk, of course. Talk being the synonym for wanting to get him naked in the whirlpool. Brennan suddenly felt an odd feeling rise in her and she had to fight down the urge to tell Vivian she should go to hell. A little shocked she had to admit to herself that she probably was feeling jealous. When had THAT happened?

But judging by Booth's – albeit smooth and polite – reaction, there was no need to worry anyway.

"Ah, yes. What a pity. I'm sorry we had to leave so early." He said, but she knew him well enough to know there was no heart in it.

They chattered amicably with the other Sinners for quite some time, sipping wine and waiting for Terry, who had "an errand" to run, or so Matilda had said. When he finally arrived half an hour later, he greeted them with a smile that did not quite reach his eyes. "Roxy, you look stunning." He kissed her on the cheek, then extended his hand to Booth. "Tony."

"Since now everybody is here, we would really like to hear a little more about the two of you. It seems you liked it here yesterday, since you decided to come back so quickly." Matilda smiled at them. "Yes." Vivian added with an almost greedy look on her face. "We definitely need to get to know you better."

"Ah, well…." Tony said after a moment. "We enjoyed your company yesterday, of course. And we figured, since we had to leave earlier, we could come back today…. To get to know each other better."

"Yes." Roxy nodded. "I'm really curious on all of you, especially Sybil and Marc, since we didn't meet you yesterday. " She nodded towards the couple and got back a smile from the bare-chested man. Going with her role, she sent a dazzling smile back and felt Booth tense beside her a little. "Oh let me ensure you, we're curious too." Marc grinned suggestively.

Booth fought down the urge to growl. Somehow, he realised, it had been a bad idea to come here with his hormones still raging from the heated kiss between him and Bones. He forced a smile on his face, though he was not quite sure if it looked convincing.

"Roxy, would you come with me for a minute?" Matilda addressed her. "I need to talk to you about something…"

Her eyes widened in surprise, but Roxy Walker was of course going to go with Mrs. O'Reilly, wasn't she? She winked at her 'husband'. "I'll be right back." She said and Tony gave her an absent nod, as if he didn't really care. But under the façade she could see Booth's weariness… he was not entirely happy with her taking off where he could not keep an eye on her, even if it was with a woman and not a man.

She followed Matilda to the kitchen. As the door closed behind them, Matilda gave her a worried look. "I'm sorry to intrude…. But I'm a little concerned about Tony."

Roxy blinked in astonishment. "Oh! Why would you be concerned?" She asked surprised.

"Is he really here…. Because he wants to be here? I'm not sure the others noticed….but I'm usually good at observing things like that… I'm pretty sure he is very territorial about you. He's trying hard not to scowl at every man looking at you. And he…. Seems to be a little reserved towards the idea of having sex with other women. " The red-haired woman said thoughtfully.

Brennan felt nervousness flood her, but she knew it was imperative to keep a cool head now, so she tried to make light of it. "Ah, that's just because we had an argument earlier. Now he wants to prove his point by being the ultimate alpha male." She rolled her eyes. "And the other thing… I think sometimes his catholic upbringing shines through. He's really interested in new experiences….but you can't completely shake off how you were brought up. Especially not, since his mother called five minutes before we left and wanted to know where we'd be going tonight. He couldn't tell her, could he? She's really very religious and wouldn't understand. I guess the conversation is still having a little effect on him." She giggled and Matilda smiled knowingly.

"Ah, religious parents. I understand, I understand…. My parents are like that too. I never had the heart to tell them what kind of bar it is, we're running here. Fortunately, my mother hates to go on a plane, so they won't visit us here and… well… see what this place looks like." She sighed and there was a hint of sadness in her voice. "It's not easy for us to lie to them, but they would resent what we're doing here… and Leo and I would never want to upset our mother."

Brennan internally complimented herself on her convincing explanation on Tony's behaviour. Then she realised that she had no face to go with the name Matilda just had mentioned.

Roxy blinked at her, confusion shining in her eyes. "Leo?"

"My brother." She frowned. "Terry didn't introduce you? He's helping us running the bar here…. Usually he's welcoming our guests outside."

Now Brennan was definitely interested. "You're not saying the nice man that took my coat is your brother?"

She smiled. "Sure he is. My baby brother. He joined us only a year ago. He really is an angel, a big help. You couldn't imagine how much work it is to keep all this in order." She gestured around.

Roxy blinked in shock. "You're not saying you're cleaning all this by yourself!"

Now Matilda laughed. "No, no, of course not! There's a cleaning company coming every day. But still, there are so many things to think of. Leo is helping a lot."

"But he is not…. a member, is he?" Roxy asked interested.

"No, no." Matilda shook her head. "He'd need a wife or at least a girlfriend he's been involved with for longer."

"How come a good-looking man like him is not taken." Roxy shook her head in disapproval. "That's just not fair. He seems to be very nice."

"I don't know why he's still alone." Matilda shook her head, concern in her voice. "I just don't know." Suddenly she straightened and smiled at Roxy again. "Well, we don't want to spoil this evening right? Let's join the others again, will we?" She motioned for Roxy to follow her to the big hall again.

Temperance Brennan knew, she maybe wasn't the best judge of character, but she was pretty sure that Matilda O'Reilly's smile had been genuine. And that she maybe had no idea her baby brother was following new members to their home, staking their place out in the middle of the night.

* * *

Sooooo, what do you say, did you like this chapter? How do you like the fact that we introduce Brennan to the wonders of feeling jealous?


	20. Chapter 20

And hi again! Thank you so much for your wonderful reviews, glad you're still reading. Hope you'll like the following chapter.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 20

"You know," Brennan addressed Matilda before joining the others in the hall again. "I think I have to use the bathroom. I'll be right back." She smiled at the other woman and walked towards bathroom. "Sure, I'll be in the hall." Mrs. O'Reilly gave back and Brennan nodded.

When she reached the bathroom, she locked the door behind her. Then she dug a notepad and a pencil out from her purse, grateful that she hadn't left it by the table. She scribbled a few lines down, then folded the paper until she could palm it easily and hide it from curious onlookers. Then she flushed the toilet, although she hadn't used it. But who knew if there wasn't somebody listening?

* * *

A few minutes later she joined the others at the table and sat down beside her 'husband'. She placed an affectionate kiss on his cheek to mask the movement when she handed him the piece of paper. Except for a very slight widening of his eyes there was no reaction to her putting a piece of paper in his hands or to the unfamiliar display of affection.

"Tony just told us about his hobby. Gloria and he seem to have a lot to talk about." Vivian smiled politely at the young woman, who was again wearing jeans and t-shirt. The smile was polite…. and false. Brennan could see that it didn't quite reach the eyes of the older woman. Obviously Vivian was not happy with Gloria stealing Tony's attention away from her. Tony, however, seemed quite comfortable with the arrangement and Brennan had to suppress a smile. She was quite sure that Booth found Vivian creepy.

About ten minutes after her return, Tony excused himself and left towards the bathroom, presumably to read her message. She watched him leave the room, admiring how good he looked in the dark-blue jeans and the black shirt that hugged his muscular chest. Brennan blinked and quickly averted her gaze before the others could get suspicious. She was not supposed to ogle her husband of three years like a schoolgirl with a crush, right?

Booth took in a deep breath when he was inside the bathroom. God, how he hated this damn club. Especially Vivian was testing his control, the woman was just plain irritating. He didn't like her leery smile, her suggestive glances and he just hated the way she was treating Roxy.

He'd been surprised when his partner had discreetly handed him a neatly folded piece of paper, but he'd been quick and palmed it, trying not to show his confusion. Obviously, something had happened between her and Matilda that she thought he needed to know. He didn't quite feel comfortable with leaving her in a hall full of Sinners, but he had no other choice if he wanted to know what she'd written.

Carefully he unfolded the paper and read what she hastily had scribbled down.

"1) Matilda suspicious. Act less jealous and more interested in other women. You're TONY, not Booth. I mentioned your catholic background to explain your hesitance.

2) Male suspect who followed us is Matilda's younger brother, Leo. Helps run the club."

His eyes widened in surprise upon reading the information about Matilda's brother. His Bones had been busy…. He would have loved to witness how she had gotten the information out of Matilda. A smile curved his lips. She was getting better and better at interviewing suspects, and she was playing her role quite convincing. Too convincing for his taste. The flirtatious behaviour, the meaningful glances…. It was slow torture to him, making him so jealous he had a hard time to keep his voice down and his fist from colliding with some of the male Sinner's faces, although he was aware it was Roxy, not Bones, doing all the flirting.

'The one' he reminded himself. 'She told me she wants me to be the one. And she is just playing a role.'

Just like he had to play a role, no matter how much he despised the guy he was impersonating.

He gave the note in his hand another long look and decided, that he had to do better. He had to be Tony or he wouldn't make it through the evening without breaking their cover.

Booth decided to get rid of the note, just in case. He crumpled it and threw it in the toilet. He flushed and waited for a moment, making sure the note got washed down. Then he straightened and looked at his reflection in the mirror. "Tony Walker." He whispered. "Let's go."

* * *

When he returned, he paused for a moment in the door way, taking in the scenery before him. Roxy was talking to Andrew who was not even trying to mask his interest in her. And why would he, it was a Swinger Club, after all. All Sinners were still gathered around the big table, but he was sure that this was about to change soon. Vivian seemed quite eager to get some action and so did some of the others. Well, he was going to make sure he wasn't involved in the action and had of course every intention of keeping Bones out of it too.

He walked towards the table and noticed how Andrew covered Roxy's hand with his at one point and how she did nothing to discourage him. 'Just playing a role. She wants to get him to talk.' He told himself. Tony didn't care what Roxy did, because he was terribly flirtatious himself, too…. right? He blinked and decided to try Gloria again. He liked her and they had always something to talk about, so he didn't have to put too much effort in it. And the topic of their discussion would surely keep Vivian away…. she seemed to bore easily.

He sat down again and started another conversation about cars. A few moments later he noticed that Tina and James took off together with Carrie and Rick…. Well it looked more as if Rick was vanishing with Tina and James with Carrie. He suppressed a shudder. He HAD known what all this was about, damn it. He knew these people slept with each other and most likely not with their spouses…. after all they could accomplish that at home, right? But still, the whole thing bothered him.

"Are you not feeling well?" Gloria asked, concern etched in her voice. Startled he looked up, realizing that he must have been staring at the door through which the two couples had vanished for quite some time. Obviously, Gloria had been talking to him and had noticed after some time that he wasn't listening. "No, no." He forced a mischievous smile on his face. "I was only wondering if James is going to get 'punished' now."

Gloria giggled. "I guess so. Carrie's his favourite and she rather enjoys a submissive partner sometimes. Rick is very dominant. I have first-hand knowledge of that and don't care to repeat it. I think that there has to be respect for each other on either side. How Tina and he manage to get along…." Her voice trailed off and she shrugged.

"So you can't recommend Rick." Roxy cut in and winked at Gloria.

"Oh, I didn't say so. It depends on what you're looking for. But he's…. well, in my opinion his a rather uncreative brute." Gloria sighed. "But if you like your men thoroughly rough and dominant, go ahead."

Roxy frowned and Booth was relieved to see Brennan's unmistakeable disapproval shine through. "No, not really. Sometimes you don't need finesse, but I don't want brutality."

"Then don't go with Rick." Gloria winked at her again. With some interest Booth noticed that Andrew's hands had clenched to fists when his wife mentioned how she had been treated by Rick. Obviously jealousy was not really an issue….but the proper treatment of his wife seemed important to Andrew, even though he was used to other men sleeping with her. Seeley Booth filed away that little bit of information.

"I really have no clue how Tina and he can get along. Andrew says she's quite dominant too." Gloria continued unfazed. "But, I guess, you could see that for yourself."

Roxy nodded. "Maybe she needs the absolute contrast to James from time to time."

A soft mile appeared on Gloria's face. "Maybe. And you're right, they're the complete opposite. James is really sweet and quite attentive. And he'd do anything you tell him to do."

"Which isn't what I'd be looking for either." Roxy commented and gave the man beside her a long look. "I believe in being equals…. Though occasional role play is interesting. Right, Tony?"

He smiled and nodded. What was he supposed to say, really? His whole experience in role play had been gathered during sessions with Sweets and had been TOTALLY non-sexual. And unfortunately his mind tied the words role-play and sex together with the dreadful horse-fetish group they had encountered. It was all he could do not to shudder in disgust.

"Yes you mentioned that already." Andrew nodded and curiosity was clearly visible in his eyes.

"Nothing too extra-ordinary…." Roxy continued. "Doctor-patient for instance. Something like that." Booth tried not to show that he found THAT image of role-play quite stimulating. He could easily picture her hands roaming over his body, making sure he was healthy. Oh, yeah.

Gloria chuckled. "Tony's getting starry eyed." Booth blinked and gave her a lazy smile.

"I don't object to being examined thoroughly." He said, though he secretly addressed this to the woman beside him rather than to the one on the other side of the table. He heard Roxy chuckle knowingly.

The blond mechanic grinned broadly. "Nice to know…. The thing is, though... He's the doctor here." She jerked her thumb towards her husband, the dentist.

Andrew and Tony eyed each other. "Nah" Andrew shook his head while Booth said. "No, thank you."

Roxy and Gloria exchanged one look and started to laugh. The blond woman lowered her voice to a conspiratorial whisper and said. "I'm not too bad as a nurse, though." She winked and grinned suggestively.

"Sounds promising." Booth forced himself to say. "But we decided not to take the next… step this evening. Maybe the next time."

He had barely uttered the words, when Vivian rose and left the room with Marc, while his wife marched off with Ethan.

Andrew chuckled. "She's been hoping to get you naked this evening." He commented.

"Marc has no problem with being second choice? I mean, it was quite obvious." Roxy asked calmly.

Gloria giggled. "Marc? Oh, no…. he's content when he gets laid. As often as possible…. Ethan however….." She sighed. "Ethan….worships the ground Vivian walks on. He'd do anything she tells him to do."

"Including sleeping with strange women?" Roxy wanted to know.

"Including sleeping with strange men." Gloria said and Booth's eyebrows rose. "Oh."

"Today Ethan's chore seems to be to keep Sybil busy while Vivian treats herself to a whirlpool-session with Rick." Gloria explained and Roxy nodded thoughtfully. "Shouldn't usually both partners WANT to come here?"

Andrew and Gloria exchanged a long look and he only shrugged and she nodded. "Sure. Of course nobody gets forced to do anything here."

"Of course." Roxy nodded. But both partners sensed that Gloria and Andrew knew more than they had just admitted. There were a lot of secrets to discover, of that Booth was sure.

* * *

Okay….. please let me know what you think, will you? THANKS!


	21. Chapter 21

I'm back. Thank you all for reading and special thanks to those who reviewed. Glad you're still interested in this story, although the updates don't come as quickly as you're used to. But I'm rather busy these days…

Well, here we go!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 21

"So…." Gloria grinned at Booth. "Next time we'll get to see a bit more…. Of each other?" The suggestive tone didn't leave a place for doubts. Gloria wanted Tony, though she wasn't as obvious as Vivian. Tony inhaled slowly and nodded. "I guess so…well, it depends, right, darling? We agreed that we both need to be in the right mood and want this…."

Andrew nodded. "The first time can be odd. After years of sleeping with only one woman, you kind of get…. A narrowed view on things…. You become a creature of habit, so to say."

Gloria gave him a pointed look. "Thanks. You just said I bore you." Her tone was only half-teasing.

"No…" He shook his head. "I didn't say that at all. I enjoy having sex with my wife very much. But this arrangement certainly adds some spice. You can not deny, we learned new things here, right?" He winked at his wife.

"That's true." Gloria nodded. "Everybody has it's own style… you let yourself get influenced by the people you sleep with. It's fascinating, when you think about it… Before we joined the Sinners, I always thought I knew what I preferred and what he likes….. but you discover new things. Things you never thought to try out together, because… you know we were still kind of shy regarding new things, despite being together for six years. He would have never thought to suggest having anal sex, for instance." She laughed, completely at ease with the topic. "That's over now, though. We've been members here for more than a year and let me tell you… we've broadened our horizon."

Andrew reached over to squeeze his wife's hand. "Definitely." His grin was broad as well.

Roxy and Tony smiled politely and Roxy said. "I understand that it might be easier to try out a new technique with someone you don't know so well. You don't need to worry about embarrassing yourself in front of your partner."

She saw Tony clench his jaw a little. "You couldn't embarrass yourself with me." He said and his voice was all Booth. She shot him a surprised look, not quite sure what to make of his words. He looked back at her, their gazes connecting and for an instant they forgot that they were playing roles. Forgot about onlookers, about their surroundings and most certainly forgot to mask their longing for each other.

"That's sweet." Gloria giggled. "The way you look at each other sometimes, one could think you were newlyweds."

Roxy cleared her throat, but Tony only grinned. "Sometimes I forget how long we've been together." He winked at Roxy, but it was so very much a Booth-thing to do, Brennan knew it was addressed to her. "Sometimes it seems to me it only just happened."

"That's either something sweet you're trying to say or your memory isn't at it's best anymore." Roxy remarked and had Andrew and Gloria laughing. "You sure are a funny pair. And you have that…. thing going." Gloria commented.

"Thing?" Roxy asked interested.

"That chemistry, you know? The spark." Gloria explained. "I could see it yesterday, but today… it seems to be even more." She frowned a little. "Funny, huh?"

Roxy and Tony exchanged a glance. Thinking of what had transpired between Brennan and Booth before in her apartment, it didn't really surprise them or strike them as funny that the bond between them seemed even more evident and obvious.

"His mother called." Roxy blurted out. Tony arched an eyebrow at her, a subtle question. Brennan decided to go with a variation of the story she'd told Mrs. O'Reilly before…. To ensure Booth would hear it too and know what lies she'd told….. there was always the risk he would be talking to the owners and contradict her story.

"As I told Matilda already, she's very religious and doesn't much care for our way of living…." Roxy shrugged. "Or for me. Her calls usually let us remember what we have in each other."

Brennan swallowed. She hoped her lies weren't too obvious. She'd just shamelessly exploited the "Mother and daughter in law hate each other"-cliché, without even having a notion of how a mother in law COULD be. Hell, Temperance Brennan didn't even know much about having a mother anymore…. Seeing as hers had vanished when she'd been fifteen years old.

She put on her 'Roxy-smile' and turned her gaze at her 'husband'. Tony smiled back, but she could see Booth's appreciation shine in the brown depths of his eyes. So, her story wasn't too clichéd, she guessed. And after all, most clichés DID have a grain of truth in them, right?

"Oh… in laws, in laws." Gloria muttered. "Andy's dad threw a temper tantrum when his beeeeeloved son disgraced himself by proposing to a mechanic."

"Now come on, love…. You gotta admit, he adores you know." Andrew gently threw in.

Gloria nodded. "Sure. After I fixed his car." She gave Brennan a conspiratorial glance. "You know how they always say the way to a man's heart is through his stomach?" Roxy nodded, though Brennan was not sure what Gloria was talking about. But admitting her ignorance would maybe look suspicious. Gloria continued. "I can't cook for shit. But I can fix cars. And that, Roxy, is working like magic. Maybe even better than cooking."

Brennan processed the words, concluded what Gloria had meant and was about to answer, when Tony cut in. "She doesn't need to start repairing cars. She makes the best Mac and Cheese, don't you?"

"If you say so." She smiled politely.

"Sure. She puts in some secret ingredients. Makes a big thing of it, too." Tony grinned, referring to the one time Brennan had actually cooked for Booth.

"God, would you stop?" Stephen, one of the sinners they had only briefly talked to, interrupted them impatiently. "Getting to know each other before fucking is one thing, if you need it, but talking about cooking and recipes? Major mood killer, really. Who gives a shit about secret ingredients, huh? Before you know it you'll be talking sewing and crocheting." His sudden outburst rendered everyone speechless for a moment. They had hardly paid any attention to their surroundings and were surprised to see, that only Matilda, Stephen and the four of them were still seated at the table.

"Steve, really!" Gloria was the first to say something. "You're such a jerk sometimes." Her tone was teasing.

"Gee, thanks, Miss Dirty Hands, you sure are the charmer here." Steve growled and Gloria gasped in surprise. Where her words had been teasing before, Steve's insult seemed to be heartfelt, shamelessly zoning in on one of her sore spots. The fact that a mechanic could scrub her hands for hours and still find black grease under a fingernail.

Andrew glared at the other man. "You'd better apologise real soon, Steve."

"Or what?" Stephen asked suspiciously.

"Or Terry will make sure Ben's dragging your sorry ass out here. I don't know what's wrong with you today, but this isn't funny." Andrew said. As if on cue, Terry appeared in the doorway from the kitchen, as if he had heard the commotion.

"Who's Ben?" Roxy asked, curiously.

"One of the security men." Terry answered smoothly, while Gloria explained. "The bouncer."

Tony grinned. "Two names, one pit bull." He gave Stephen a pitiful look. "Doubt you'll stand a chance."

"Where is your wife, Stephen?" Terry asked calmly.

Suddenly Steve's face turned an angry red. "I don't know. I guess fucking somebody. That's what were here for, isn't it? Not talking recipes, for God's sake." He glared at Gloria, Andrew, Roxy and Tony.

"They want to get to know each other before getting intimate." Matilda said softly. "If that's what they need, they'll get it, Steve. You know that." She sighed. "Are you angry that Cynthia is getting what she wants and you're stuck here? Because we can remedy that…. if you apologise."

Booth had to keep himself from showing how much this disgusted him. Steve had lost his temper, because his wife was busily going at it somewhere and he was not. He was not jealous of the man she did it with, he was jealous of the fact that she got laid and he didn't. And Matilda simply offered her 'assistance' in that matter as if it was the most natural thing to do. God, this place was disgusting him more and more. He shot a quick glance at Terry, but the owner's face didn't show any emotion, safe maybe a little annoyance.

No surprise, Booth thought. He supposed that Terry had gotten rid of every trace of jealousy long ago, or he and his wife wouldn't have been able to run this 'bar' for years.

Stephen seemed to calm down instantly and a sly smile covered his face, his gaze roaming Matilda's feminine figure. "An excellent idea."

Mrs. O'Reilly gave him a long look and he seemed to understand that she was waiting for him to apology. He visibly fought, but got out the words. "I'm sorry for my outburst." He didn't look at them, though.

"There you go. Was that really so hard?" Matilda inquired softly, then she rose and walked over towards him and they left the hall together.

"I wonder where Cyn is?" Gloria whispered. Her husband shrugged. "Maybe Rick's doing a threesome." He commented

"Tina wouldn't share." Gloria countered and her husband nodded thoughtfully. "Ethan?" He guessed again, but they exchanged one look and shook their heads. "Nah, no benefit for Vivian."

Roxy and Tony exchanged a glance, while the other couple was still speculating. Somehow neither of them felt comfortable with the conversation.

"Marc!" Gloria said. "Vivian's doing threesome's too." Andrew nodded, but frowned a little. "But does Cyn?" Gloria shrugged. "There's always a first time."- "Yeah, but with Vivian?"

Booth struggled to keep his cool and composed façade as Tony, though the ease with which Gloria and Andrew discussed the possible pairings made him want to throw up. And Seeley Booth never threw up….working homicides ensured your stomach got used to almost anything. But not this, he thought, never this.

Terry sighed at Gloria and Andrew's speculations. "Would you stop, please? You know very well that we do NOT intrude on what the others WANT to keep private."

Gloria grinned. "Terry…. YOU know very well, that there isn't something as PRIVACY here. Where not here for privacy, we're here for the opposite."

The owner acknowledged her words with a nod. "Still… maybe Roxy and Tony don't care about that much information…. Yet." The inquiring gaze he turned was bordering on being suspicious. Maybe their hesitance had not only gotten Matilda's attention, Brennan thought.

"Oh, I'm very interested in hearing more about everyone." Roxy was quick to interject. "It's all still new for us and we need to get to know the group better. Right, sweetheart?"

"Yeah." Tony said, his voice a little hoarse and he cleared his throat audibly. "I'm curious, too." The lie almost burned his tongue.

"I'll be back." Terry informed them and vanished again, leaving the two couples.

Gloria and Andrew exchanged a glance, then smiled knowingly. "You're curious, yeah?"

Roxy nodded and Tony mirrored her gesture.

"Tit for tat." Gloria's eyes glittered with mischief. "We tell you something about who likes whom, who likes what….. you tell us what YOU like."

"Eh…" Tony hesitated. He knew what he WANTED to do with Bones.

But he was not comfortable with sharing this with ANYbody, most of all not with the two people whot – he was sure of that now – were the group's babblers par excellence.

"We already told you a lot…." Gloria continued. "So we'll need to hear something from you first." She grinned.

Roxy and Tony exchanged a glance. Brennan saw the worry and discomfort in Booth's eyes, but she gave him a reassuring smile and said, her eyes still fixed on his face. "Things we like to do to each other or things we would like other people to do to us?" Booth's eyes widened slightly upon hearing her words.

"Hmmmm. Good question." Gloria mumbled and whispered to her husband. Roxy leant forward to whisper something into Tony's ear too. "Play along or they'll get suspicious. It's just … hypothetic. Not real."

"Okay…." Andrew grinned and Roxy leant back to look at him. "We agreed on something. You take turns and we tell you what it has to be about. Roxy, you start with …..something you want a man doing to you."

Roxy batted her eyelashes at Andrew and a sly grin covered her face. "Does it have to be a man?"

Booth nearly groaned out load. This evening was going to be torture. PURE TORTURE in capital letters.

* * *

OOOOOkay, what do you think? How did you like this chapter so far. I know, I know… no real new things on the case, huh? You'll see soon enough!

Reviews would be AWESOME!


	22. Chapter 22

Hi again everybody…!!!

Thank you so much for your awesome reviews – so glad you like the last chapter. Here we go, the next one is ready.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 22

Greedily Booth inhaled the cool night air while walking towards his car. As swiftly as he could – without raising suspicions – he closed the distance towards his safe haven – namely his SUV.

When the doors were closed and Brennan and he were settled, the seatbelts fastened and the motor humming he allowed himself a deep, heartfelt sigh. Then he looked at the woman seated beside him.

"You're wicked. You nearly killed me in there." He accused her.

"I merely played my role, Booth. Whereas you would have blown our cover with your reservations." She stated, somewhat satisfied with her performance as liberal, sexually experienced and outspoken Roxy.

"But you called me Booth in there, Bones." He threw in, while they left the parking lot.

"No, I caught myself in time. A slip of tongue… but otherwise I have been acting very convincingly, right?" She gave back.

"You called me Boo-baby. I mean, seriously….BOO-BABY?" He repeated the nickname she'd invented to cover up her near-slip of tongue.

"I had to improvise." She merely shrugged. "One little mistake in…" She checked her watch. "…four hours. Except for that little mistake I played my role pretty good, didn't I?"

He gave her an amused look. Who would have thought Brennan would be fishing for compliments? "Yeah, Bones. You've been very convincing. And inventive. And… detailed."

"Did it really bother you?" She asked, once again amazed by his problems to talk about sex. She had merely discussed different techniques of oral sex and rather tame role plays. And positions as they were described in much more detail in the kama sutra. Surely he tried out some of those before. What was the big deal?

Her partner remained silent for some time. "As I said….. inventive and detailed. You painted vivid pictures." He replied after a long pause, his voice a little hoarse.

She contemplated his words for some time, then a sly grin appeared on her face. "You think I've been inventive?"

Booth's hands clamped down on the steering wheel, turning his knuckles white. "Yeah."

"You're wondering what I invented and what I've experienced first hand, right?" She asked, though she knew she should probably not be teasing him while he was driving.

Sure enough, he clenched his jaws and after some time he answered. "I'd rather not discuss this while I'm driving."

"Okay." She agreed, but after a moment she asked. "Does that mean you want to discuss it later?"

"God, Bones…. Let it go already…." He groaned, then his face was back to what appeared broody… and angry?

"You're angry." She stated, somewhat surprised.

"No." He gave back. The clipped, court answer stood in direct contradiction to the word itself. Her eyes widened slightly. Surely she had done nothing that could have angered him, right?

"You can not possibly still be angry at me for almost calling you by your real name." Brennan said.

"I'm not angry… not really. Just…. Let it go for now, please." He pressed through gritted teeth. She blinked at the rough tone of his voice and noticed with fascination that his hands were clamped down on the steering wheel so tightly she feared they would start cramping soon. The hard, stiff grip was not going to be helpful in case a quick manoeuvre would be necessary. But she knew him well enough not to say anything.

She kept an eye on him, thinking of what could bother him so much, but she drew a complete blank. Sure, she'd described the different techniques with the utmost care, but she'd wanted to be as convincing as possible. Why would that be a problem to him?

Brennan watched her partner and noticed with some relief that after a few moments his posture became less rigid…. though he was still far from being relaxed. And she saw that he was still seething… if not with anger, then with something so very close to it, it was hard to distinguish.

When they finally reached her apartment, he parked his car, then looked at her. "You want me to come up with you?" His voice was still not back to normal and something in her wanted to say no, just to punish him for being so cold towards her, a petty thought. But she knew they had to go over the new things they had found out. And before his change of mood, she had hoped she could try some of the things she'd been talking about… with him. All the time talking, she had to fight hard not to lose herself in the fantasy that Booth was doing all that to her. That's why she'd almost called him by his real name.

"You know we have to talk." She said. "About the case, at least."

He simply nodded and followed her, up the stairs and into her apartment. He didn't say a word and Brennan' anger at him for being so distant grew. Anger and hurt, she had to admit to herself, though she didn't want to.

After having closed the door of her apartment, she watched him take off his shoes. Watched how he crossed over to her couch and sat down, still not saying a word.

"What is it, Booth? Why are you like that?" Her voice was low, but he heard the anger… and the hurt, too.

He briefly closed his eyes, but quickly blinked them open again, as unbidden images intruded on his thoughts.

Unbidden images of her and some faceless guy giving her pleasure in every way she'd described earlier that evening.

"I'm sorry, Bones." He finally choked out. "I knew you were sexually experienced, of course… but…"

He hesitated, not sure what to say.

"But what? Did what I described somehow collide with your religion? Or…. Are you ….disgusted by me now?" She spat at him, the mere thought of it both paining and angering her. After all, he had said that she could never embarrass herself with him, right?

"No!" His jerked up, and with wide eyes he stared at her. "No, Bones, no! Never that…. I disgust myself."

She frowned at his words, clearly not understanding what he was talking about, but his quick and almost shocked reply had calmed her a little. "Explain." Brennan simply said.

"I'm jealous of the men you did all this with. How low is that, huh? I knew you have a…. healthy sex life, damn it, you told me often enough. But…. I've got all this stuck in my head now, Bones. And I'm …… God, I'm feeling like an idiot. I'm sorry." He shook his head.

"I'm hardly a virgin, Booth. You knew that." She commented, considerably calmer now.

"I know, Bones. And I don't blame you for anything, please believe me. And I'm absolutely not disgusted. How could I ever be? You… you're beautiful and you're sexy…" He said, then sighed. "But… I'm jealous of the guys who had their hands on you. It's stupid and probably doesn't make any sense…" His voice trailed off.

"Explain it to me. Make me understand." She addressed him softly.

"You probably tried everything there is to try. It's just…. That's a little bit…unsettling." He admitted.

"I never tried sex with you." She stated the obvious.

"I fear I'll be too traditional for you, Bones. I haven't read the kama sutra cover to cover and tried every position in it. Frankly, I find some of them…..disturbing." He finally said, his voice low and flat.

"Me too. And for some of them both participants would probably have to be contortion artists." She said and his eyes flew to hers in astonishment.

"Booth… I was playing a role. I haven't done all the things I talked about today." Brennan sat down next to him.

"You haven't?" He asked, somewhat relieved.

"No." She shook her head. "And there is something else I want to try. And I can only try it with you."

He blinked and she continued. "You….you once told me that two people in love can defy the laws of physics. That it's different. I never …. I never loved one of the men I had intercourse with. I want you to show me."

Her husky voice nearly caused him to shiver and her words both made him feel warm inside and let a wave of heat wash over him. "So, I can show you something new after all?" He whispered, his hands cupping her face.

"You already did…. The kiss… it was…." She stammered, not able to think coherently, now that he was so near and their breaths were mingling.

"Good?" He asked, glad to be able to unsettle the experienced Dr. Brennan. After all, she unsettled him too, so it was all just fair, right?

She simply nodded. He skimmed his thumb over the smooth skin of her cheek, a slow caress. "You want a repeat performance?" He whispered, his nose almost brushing against hers.

"I want you." She whispered huskily. She had hardly spoken the words when Booth's mouth covered hers, his lips pressing against hers, his tongue demanding entrance. Heat flared between them and she knew, he was going to show her what she'd missed out on despite all her experience. Finally.

* * *

Soooo what do you think? I know I left out the part with the descriptions and all, but hinting at it leaves the mystery intact ;) and though this is rated M, I'm not much for too crude smut…. So, the next chapter will contain sex, but not too graphical descriptions, I guess.

Reviews would be awesome. THANK YOU!


	23. Chapter 23

Hello readers. I'm very sorry that it took me so long to update. As you may know, I had the flu and I simply was not able to concentrate. Then I was insanely busy…. In fact I still am, but at least I found time to write this chapter here. I hope you'll like it. Thank you for reading and of course special thanks to my reviewers!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 23

Seeley Booth sure knew how to kiss. His tongue stroked lazily against hers, while his fingers trailed down her neck and shoulders and crept towards the halter of her dress, slowly brushing it aside. His mouth left hers, but she did not have time to complain, to demand more kisses. A moment after the absence of his lips on hers registered in her brain, she felt his hot breath against her neck and without thinking she angled her head to grant better access. Feather light teasing kisses danced over her skin, his hot breath against her throat forcing a moan out of her.

"Mhm" He mumbled against her skin. "I'm going to love making you moan."

"Me too." She agreed, shivering slightly, her eyes closed, enjoying the feeling of his hands trailing over her body. Slowly they travelled over her back and her sides, almost as if searching.

"Temperance?" His husky voice made her blink her eyes open and she looked at him questioningly.

"I don't want to rip your dress apart, so you better help me here." Booth said, his voice raw with desire. Her throaty chuckle made another wave of heat surge through him. She'd been the star of so many of his fantasies over the course of the last few years, he was simply starving for the sight of her breasts, hungering for the feeling of her body against his.

"There's no zipper." Her husky voice informed him. "It's elastic… just… tug it down or push it up. Whatever you want."

God, did that woman know that he'd been thinking about doing just that nearly all evening? Both of the suggested actions, in various situations, combined or not, had kept his mind quite busy.

His throat went dry and his pulse into overdrive at the sound of her words. As if of their own volition, his hands moved towards the neckline of her dress, brushing the straps down over her shoulders, and slowly he tugged the material down until he could see her breasts, covered by a blue lace bra, which was transparent in places. He drew in a deep breath. "You're gorgeous." He whispered, then he let his fingertips dance over one of her nipples. When he heard her gasp, a jolt went through him and in an instant his mouth descended on hers, kissing her deeply.

He felt her hands tugging at the hem of his shirt, creeping under it and making contact with the skin of his stomach. A shudder went through him and he broke their kiss to look into her eyes. He could see his own lust reflected in her eyes. "I want to feel you." She whispered and started to unbutton his shirt. Her hands seemed to shake a little and she fumbled for some time with the buttons. When she finally had opened them all, he shrugged out of the shirt and her fingers trailed over his broad chest, circling a scar she had never seen before, although she had known it would be there. After all, he had taken a bullet for her and she had applied pressure to the wound to keep him from losing too much blood. Brennan forced her attention away from the scar, away from the past….after all the present was much more enjoyable. She looked up into his eyes and knew that he had noticed her mind had wandered off for a moment.

"I want you out of this dress, Temperance. I want you, completely naked and forgetting about anything else but us." He whispered huskily. It was the right thing to say. Heat flooded her and her hand dropped to his belt buckle. "I want you naked, too." She gave back as she opened it.

"Bedroom?" He suggested throatily and she simply nodded. Before she could rise, he scooped her up in his arms and carried her towards her bedroom. A dozen reasons for obligating to being treated like a helpless female and being carried as if she was not able of simply walking were flooding her mind in an instant. And soon vanished as she simply ignored them. Temperance Brennan angled her head to press a kiss to her partner's throat.

What was it about that man that made her feel so….. out of control? The scientist realised that she was not in charge anymore, at least not completely… and that was something she was not used to at all.

Every time when she had been on the verge of really letting go before in her life, she'd caught herself in time, managed not to hand herself over to the man she was with. Managed not to take the risk. Never before had she lost control so completely, she simply had not allowed it to happen. On the other hand, she was pretty sure no man before had ever been so tempting and skilled at making her lose control like her partner Seeley Booth. Maybe, she thought, it was the fact that she loved him and trusted him. She had trusted him with her life, with her heart… and now she trusted him with her body. She handed herself over as she had never done before, as she had never wanted or dared before. But he had all her trust….and Temperance Brennan was pretty sure that defying the laws of physics required a healthy portion of trust.

His deep, passionate kiss as he lowered her on her bed made her feel both weak and strong at the same time, although that was something that shouldn't be possible…. But the fact that while undressing and touching each other he was panting and moaning just like herself showed her that there was balance. The balance she'd been unconsciously seeking all her life. She could make him lose his control, too. Content with that knowledge, she let him take the lead. For now.

An hour later she was panting heavily, having just had an orgasm of epic proportions. And not the first one in that hour, either. He had teased her with his tongue at first, stroking, tasting and suddenly plunging deeply until her climax had swept over her, so surprisingly fast it had left her numb for a few moments.

When she had been able to gather her wits enough, she had been intent on returning the favour, but she had barely spent a few minutes stroking and licking him, when he had simply dragged her on top of him. "We don't want the fun to be over so soon, huh?" He had asked her and kissed her deeply.

Then his fingers had stroked her, explored her and nearly sent her to another climax, but he had stopped an instant before she had found relief. Her mumbled protests had made him grin a little, but then he had been serious again. "Do we need a condom?" He had asked. "I'm on birth control. And I trust you, Booth."

Her answer had been all he had needed to hear, before finally burying himself in her. And soon everything around them had just faded away from them, until there was only them, moving together, kissing, moaning and finally reaching what they both had been craving:

Defying the laws of physics.

Minutes later, she found the power to lift her head. "That was…. Incredible." Her voice was hoarse and she was still somewhat shocked. She had had orgasms before, of course. But….never before had she been able to let go so completely.

She looked at the man lying beside her, who had a lazy and satisfied smile on his face. "Yes." He simply said and reached over to stroke her bare stomach.

"Booth?" She asked after a few moments of silence. "Hm?" He made. "Is it … always going to be like that?" She asked curiously.

He had to chuckle. Trust Bones to ask questions right after having wonderful, passionate sex. "No." He answered after a moment of consideration.

"No?" Brennan frowned, disappointment in her voice.

"Better." He grinned at her. "After all, practise makes perfect, right?"

"So you say this was…. not good?" She stared at him, a little anxious. After all, she had experience regarding sex, but not regarding the emotions that clearly had been involved for both of them.

"Temperance." He smiled gently at her. "You are wonderful and this was incredible. I just want an excuse to repeat it as often as possible." He winked at her. "Now come here." He motioned for her to move near and embraced her, held her near….And the partners were content with simply enjoying each others nearness and the fact that they were both deliciously spent. The case could wait a few hours.

* * *

So, what do you say? Did you like it? As I said, there was sex, but I didn't want to describe every little detail of every little movement. That's just not what I want to write… and not what I want to read most of the time, either. So, I hope you are okay with my take on smut. Please let me know!!! I love reviews!


	24. Chapter 24

Hi again everybody. Yes I know….. it took me long again to update, I hope you can accept my apologies. Thank you all for your reviews…. Glad you liked my take on smut! I have to admit I was a little nervous about it....

well and here we are with chapter 24!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 24

"Go away." She mumbled incoherently, not sure who or what was tickling her, but not particularly interested in finding out either. The fingers that had been tickling her side crept upwards and covered one of her – very naked – breasts. She blinked her eyes open and after a moment of confusion, recognized her partner. "Thought that would wake you up." He smiled at her.

"Hm." She made and the events of the past hours rushed back. Sinner's Palace… a lot of talk about sex…. serious talk with Booth….which lead to very delicious sex with Booth. Repeatedly. Her eyes focussed on him. "I had no intention of falling asleep."

"Wore you out, did I?" He grinned and seemed to be very pleased with himself. Her slight frown made him sober a little. "I slept, too." Booth winked at her. "But then you woke me with your snoring."

Her eyes widened and she shook her head. "I do not snore."

"You sure?" He asked, a cocky smile on his face. "Nobody ever accused me of snoring." She raised an eyebrow at him. "Maybe nobody's been honest with you?" He asked. The frown on her face made him laugh out loud. "You're cute when you pout. No, you didn't snore. But you, Temperance Brennan, are a terrible bedhog."

"I'm what?" She asked suspiciously, ignoring the comment on being cute, not sure if she should interpret it as compliment or not.

"You took the blanket for yourself. Very selfish." He commented and snuggled closer to her. "There's a spare in the closet." She yawned at him. He shook his head. "I really thought you'd like to be under covers with me, darling." He grinned playfully and she rolled her eyes at the pun, but then the expression on her face sobered.

"Booth?" She asked after a moment of silence. "Hm?" came his muttered reply. "You just called me darling." She said.

"There is a problem with that?" He asked curiously, his hand lazily stroking her bare back.

"It's just…. That's what you call me when we're Roxy and Tony … I mean…." She stopped, not quite sure how to continue. When had she become to feel so self-conscious?

He pulled back a little to look her directly into the eyes. "I'm not mixing anything up, Bones. I don't confuse you with Roxy or something. I made love to you and I hope to repeat that as often as possible."

She seemed to be relieved and smiled. "Oh. Okay." Then she closed the distance between them and kissed him deeply and with some satisfaction noticed that he responded immediately. The pleasant moment was interrupted by the chiming sound of his mobile phone. He grunted, clearly annoyed by the interruption, disentangled himself from her embrace and reached for the offending object. His brows shot up when he saw the caller ID. "Cullen." He informed his partner before answering.

"Booth."

"Booth, this is Cullen. I'm waiting for your update on the Freeport case." Booth's eyes widened and he glanced at the clock, stifling a curse. "Oh… I'm sorry, Sir. It seems I …. overheard the alarm. I .." He briefly glanced at the naked woman beside him. "I will make sure to have the update ready as soon as possible and e-mail it to you if that's convenient?"

"I'd prefer you reporting in in person, Booth. If Dr. Brennan is available, I'd like to see her too." Cullen told him. Booth shot her another look. "I'll be sure to contact her, but I'm not sure if she is available."

She opened her mouth to speak, but Booth shook his head. She frowned for a moment, wondering if Booth intended to keep their relationship secret. Somehow the mere thought hurt her deeply and she quickly averted her gaze.

A few moments later he ended the phone call and looked at her. "No, I don't want to keep this from Cullen."

"How did you know what I was thinking about?" She said, stunned.

"It was all over your face." He answered and kissed her quickly. "But I don't want to spring it at him just like that. Besides, if he thinks I still have to contact you, we have more time to put together a quick report now." He shook his head. "I can't believe I just fell asleep without setting an alarm." He gave her a warm smile. "Well, we better start on putting together that report, or we'll be late. Cullen expects us at ten."

She yawned and glanced at her clock, then bolted upright in obvious horror. "Nine? It's almost nine? I haven't slept that long in.... I don't know how long."

Brennan hurried towards the bathroom, leaving a stunned FBI agent admiring her bare backside. "I'm going to take a shower."

He sighed. He wanted nothing more than to follow her and share that shower with her…. But he was pretty sure they would spend too much time in the shower and not enough with writing the damn report. So he simply threw on yesterday's clothes and moved to her living room to write down as much as he remembered about the last evening. The things that were interesting for the case, anyway. What he was sure he'll never forget was the feeling of her luscious body against him, how her soft, naked breasts had been pressed against his bare chest. The look of her after she'd climaxed in his arms. He hoped he would get to see that frequently now. He blinked and decided to put these thoughts away, concentrating on the things they had found out about the other Sinner's the previous evening…. And about Maureen's brother, Leo, who had been following after their first visit at Sinner's Palace.

"Want to shower too?" A voice from behind him startled him.

He turned and looked at his partner, who was wearing a white towel and nothing else. His mouth went dry upon seeing her like that and he swallowed hard. "Ah. No." He cleared his throat. "Get dressed, will you? We'll have to swing by my apartment…. I need to change into something else or Cullen will know that I spent the night with you."

Again, a hint of hurt flickered over her face. "I don't want to keep it secret, Bones, I told you that. But let's wait until after the case…. I don't want him to pull us off the case because we're together now. He … ah.. he might not be so thrilled, you know." He smiled sheepishly. "That is…. you don't want to keep this secret, right?"

Temperance Brennan looked at him for a moment, then laughed out loud. "Booth, Angela knows. Not all of it, but enough to ensure that there is no way to keep it secret."

Booth's eyes widened for a moment, then he smiled. "You're right. But tell her to keep it … quiet until we solved that case, okay?"

Brennan nodded. "I'll call her when we're at your apartment." She left to get dressed and Booth caught himself staring after her, once again. He considered himself a very lucky man now.

* * *

A few hours later, Booth was staring at his computer screen, not quite sure what to make of Leo Buchanan's data. He'd contacted Scotland Yard and been able to pull a few strings to get the information sent to him quickly. Leo Buchanan had been working for a company that developed and assembled computer hardware. Leo's job had been well-paid and his chances for getting promoted to a better position had been good. Why would an obviously successful electronics nerd decide to leave behind a well-paid job, an apartment in the neighbourhood of London go to the US and decide to work as assistant for his sister and her husband? That reeked of secrets.

Booth decided that Leo Buchanan could well be their prime suspect.

* * *

Soooo, please tell me, did you like this chapter? I know it was a little short, the next one will be longer, I promise!

Reviews are very, very welcome!


	25. Chapter 25

Hello again my dear readers. Thank you so much for your reviews, you're awesome.

As I mentioned before, I'm quite busy these days.. that's why it took me longer to write these chapter… I hope you do understand. Thanks!

* * *

Under cover(s) – 25

Angela stared at her best friend, who was seated behind her desk, frowning at a piece of paper. "Gimme." The artist said.

Brennan raised an eyebrow. "Give you what?"

"Details of course." Angela rolled her eyes. "I know you. You glow. You had sex." Angela grinned broadly. "And I know with whom."

Brennan's eyes darted to the door of her office and was relieved to find it closed. "You have to promise not to tell anybody about it, Angela."

Her best friend's face fell. "Why?" There was concern in her voice.

"Booth wants to keep it quiet until the case is closed. He thought Cullen might not react positively and it would be better if we were not working undercover when we tell him." Brennan informed her.

Angela nodded thoughtfully, then a sly smile covered her face. "Tell him what?"

Brennan gave her a confused look. "That our relationship has changed, of course."

"You can do better than that." Angela rolled her eyes. "Relationship has changed." She shook her head and gave the forensic anthropologist a chiding look.

"I don't know what you're hinting at, Ange." Brennan narrowed her eyes.

"Details, Sweetie. I want details." Angela gave her a long look. "And I want more than just 'our relationship has changed' That's lame."

"I… love Booth." Brennan admitted hesitantly. "He said he loves me too. We had incredible sex. Satisfied?"

Angela's eyes shone with delight. "Not completely, but it will do for now. Are you?" The artist grinned suggestively.

"Oh yes. For now." Brennan smiled, then sighed. "Though the morning didn't quite start as planned. We fell asleep and woke pretty late. Cullen called Booth and so … nothing happened this morning."

"Ah, but there will be other mornings, right?" Angela asked hopefully, not so subtly questioning Brennan's intentions on having a real relationship with Booth… and hopefully not chickening out now.

"I sincerely hope so." Brennan said and Angela smiled with relief. "Good."

Silence settled over them for a moment, then Angela asked. "He liked the dress, huh?"

"Uh-uh." Brennan nodded as she recalled his reaction to her outfit… and especially how he had removed it later.

"Okay… so, you had incredible sex and told each other that you're in love. Mission accomplished." Angela grinned. "How about the case? Anything new from the Sinners?"

"The guy who collects the coats, the one who followed us…. Its Maureen's brother, Leo." Brennan said.

"Ah. Family business." Angela nodded understandingly.

"Booth is checking him out. He hasn't been in the US for long… and the fact that he followed us is of course suspicious… but it could be that the O'Reillys simply have him follow every new couple that joins the group."

Brennan mused.

"That would mean that they have secrets to keep, huh? I mean, following you guys home? That's creepy." Angela said thoughtfully.

"I know. Booth's trying to get information on Leo Buchanan through our contacts with Scotland Yard." Brennan said and if on cue, the phone on her desk started ringing. "Brennan." She answered.

"Hey Bones. You good?" Booth's deep voice asked and an unfamiliar warmth filled her upon hearing it.

"Yeah, I'm fine." She answered after a moment. When she looked at her best friend, Angela batted her eyelashes and blew a kiss at her and Brennan shot her an annoyed glare.

"I got information on Leo Buchanan. He was into electronics and had quite a lifestyle back in London. Now he's playing butler for his sister." Booth informed her.

"Maybe he wanted a change." She said.

"Maybe." Booth agreed, but his voice indicated that he was not convinced.

"You don't believe it, though." Brennan analysed.

"No, I don't believe it. I just…. Doesn't spring. I don't know. Call it a gut feeling. I think it's suspicious he left behind a life like that to act as a living-in aid for his sister and his brother in law now. If the information on him is accurate, he lives at Sinner's Palace with them. If he wasn't her brother I'd think there was something else going on" He said. Brennan considered the rooms at the Sinner's Palace and the fact that Maureen and Terry led a very open marriage and was inclined to agree.

"You'll think it disgusting – as do I – but it wouldn't be the first time that brother and sister have a sexual relationship." Brennan felt obliged to inform her partner.

"Ugh. Thanks for that visual." He complained. "I hope it's not the case here. I let you know when I found out more, okay?"

She nodded. "Okay. See you later."

"Yeah. I'll pick you up after work, okay? At six?" He sounded almost insecure.

"I'd appreciate it. You dropped me off here and I don't have my car at the Jeffersonian." Brennan said and silence followed for a moment. "Right." He murmured.

"But even if my car was here, I'd hoped you came to pick me up." She admitted after a pause.

A relieved sigh from the other side of the line confirmed her suspicion that he was just as insecure about the situation as she. Sure, they had declared their love for each other, but after years of being partners and friends settling into a new, altered form of relationship was …. unfamiliar and a little awkward. Not unpleasant., though. "Great. Until later, Bones." He said and after a moment he added in a low voice. "I love you."

Her breath caught and just as she was about to recover from the shock of him actually saying it on the phone, just as she was about to say it back, she heard him hang up. She blinked, stunned. This new thing, this new changed relationship was going to be strange for a while. But in a nice way, she thought.

Brennan looked up and met Angela's amused smile. "You're so sweet. You totally blushed. He didn't do dirty talk, did he?"

Brennan snorted. "Ange, you're impossible. No, he gave me information on the case, okay?" She sighed and gave her friend a long look. "Please keep quiet about Booth and me. For now."

Angela nodded. "Won't be easy, but I'll manage."

"Good." Brennan nodded, then she gestured towards her desk. "I have a lot of paperwork and Booth's picking me up at six. So I better make sure I'm done until then."

Angela winked at her. "You can't leave him hanging all evening, huh?"

The innuendo was not lost on Brennan and she just shook her head at her best friend. "Please at least TRY not to make remarks like that in public, Angela."

"Alright." The artist shrugged. "Just one last thing, Sweetie." Angela waited for Brennan to meet her eyes.

"I'm happy for you, Bren."

An almost shy smile appeared on Temperance Brennan's face. "Thank you, Ange."

* * *

Soooooooo, how did you like this chapter? I just wanted a girl-talk between Bones and Ange, and a little awkwardness between her and Booth…. after all they have to deal with daily stuff now and things just are a little different when you're out of the bedroom…. But I think they'll manage, what do you think?

Readers who pay attention to every detail may have noticed that it is Sunday in this story and everybody seems to be at work….. I will explain this later in the story!

Reviews would be totally AWESOME.

Next chapter might lead to new insights on the case!!!


	26. Chapter 26

Hi sweeties. I hope some of you read the author's note I put up at Coming Home. Didn't want to bump up all my stories with author's notes, that didn't seem right…

So in case you didn't read it: I was freaking busy these past months. Busy with work, busy with family. Just busy in general. But now it looks as if things would be calming down a little. No business trips scheduled in the near future, so that's a big relief.

I hope to be able to write + update more regularly from now on. Big hug to all of you, my wonderful and patient readers!!!

Thank you for all the reviews… you may know that I usually take the time to answer them all, but now I'd rather write another update and do the answering-thingy later. Hope you agree.

BTW, I just noticed that I changed the name of Matilda to Maureen somewhere. How odd. What's wrong with me? She's Matilda! I'm going to go back and correct this mistake as soon as I have the time.

* * *

Under cover(s) – 26

"So it happened." A female voice from behind her startled Angela and she nearly dropped the file she had been reading in. There were not many people at the lab, mainly because it was nearly lunchtime on a Sunday. She turned around and found herself confronted with Camille Saroyan's inquiring gaze. "What happened?" The artist frowned a little.

"Brennan and Booth." Cam smiled.

Angela arched an eyebrow at her boss. "What are you talking about?"

Cam chuckled. "Please. Look at her. She looks awfully happy, don't you agree? And I know Seeley wasn't at home this morning. I called him, but only the answering machine picked up. When he picked up his cell phone I heard her voice in the background. Plus, Seeley didn't know about Cullen's request for our team to work week-ends until this case is closed. I suppose it's logical, though… since they're going to meet the Sinners on Fridays we'll most likely get new facts on weekends. But Booth didn't even know about it… obviously he didn't report in very early today."

"It's Sunday. And since somebody followed them Friday night it might be safer to keep up the appearance of the married couple even if there's nobody watching." Angela tried to explain why Booth had been staying with Brennan.

Cam's eyes narrowed a little. "Evasion? From you?" She blinked. "Is it a secret, or what?"

Angela sighed. Cam was far too perceptive not to notice the things that were going on right in front of her. And it really wasn't Angela's usual modus operandi to avoid talking about juicy details. "Don't mention it, please. Booth wants the case closed before it becomes common knowledge."

Dr. Saroyan considered the artists words for a few moments, then nodded slowly. "But I was right. They finally stopped to act ignorant and started being serious, right? What a relief."

Angela stifled a grin. "It was a bit like in a Greek tragedy, huh?"

"Damn right. And my role in it had potential to end up less than flattering." Cam mirrored Angela's grin. "Fine. I'll be good and won't say a word. Just a little more incentive to solve this case sooner." She winked. "I plan to tease Seeley relentlessly."

"I have a notion he won't really care." Angela turned serious. "They're perfect for each other."

Cam nodded. "I know. It took me some time to understand their relationship, but now I do. They just complement each other."

"Yeah. Yeah, they do." Angela nodded and gave the other woman an asserting glance. "Jealous?"

"Of her for ending up with Booth?" Cam shook her head. "No. Seeley and I were never meant for each other. But jealous of that kind of relationship?" She let out a deep sigh. "Very much." The two women gave each other an understanding look.

"I know what you mean." Angela whispered, her eyes trailing to her former fiancé on the other side of the lab.

"It's actually none of my business but…. I think if you want him back so much you should probably tell him." Dr. Saroyan said softly.

"I should. Probably. But then maybe he says 'no way in hell would I want you back'. What should I do then?" Angela shook her head. "No.. I think I still need more time." She snorted. "And to think that I of all people am giving Brennan advice about how to admit to her feelings."

"You're a good friend to her. It was past time for the two of them to get together. If you ignore your chances too often, they might not offer themselves anymore." With that not-so veiled piece of advice Dr. Saroyan marched off and left Angela behind. She blinked and watched her best friend through the big window of her office.

Brennan was concentrating on something on the computer screen in front of her, the slight frown evident of how much she was immersed in her work. But underneath this there was something new, something changed. A Temperance Brennan that seemed very much in tune with herself and the world around her.

And Angela realised that this might be the very first time she had seen Brennan so at ease and content. As if somebody had handed her the missing piece of the puzzle that was her soul. Angela shook her head at that colourful thought. "Don't be melodramatic." She ordered herself. Temperance Brennan had enjoyed a night of great sex with the man she loved. Anybody would feel and look satisfied after that.

And Angela still remembered how it had been like to go to work with that satisfied smile on her lips. Her gaze strayed to the man who had spent many exciting hours with her… at her home, his home …even here at work. He had made her happy. And she hoped she had returned the favor. But somehow they had let it slip away. She closed her eyes, thinking back how great they had been together. If only she had the guts to tell Jack that she still loved him.

"Day-dreaming?" She shrieked as Jack's voice startled her out of her trip down memory lane and jumped.

Somehow he had put the maybe one or two minutes she had been standing here with her eyes closed to good use. He had come all the way from the other side of the lab and was now standing in front of her, his hands extended towards her to steady her if need be.

"Don't sneak up on me like that." She panted, a little shocked that the subject of her reminiscing was now standing in front her, an almost concerned look on his face. His blue eyes held her gaze. "You okay?"

"Yeah. Fine. I… was thinking." Angela explained and gave him a quick smile. "I have to talk to Bren."

She hurried towards her best friends office and left a bewildered Hodgins staring after her. "Women." He muttered and went back to work.

Angela breezed into Brennan's office, effectively interrupting her work. Brennan took in her appearance and frowned. "What's wrong, Ange?"

"Why do you think something has to be wrong?" The artist asked.

"You seem to be either very excited or panicked. Your pupils are dilated, your face is a little flushed and you…." Angela interrupted her. "Please don't tell me I smell of cold sweat or something like that. Once was enough. Okay…. You're right. Something's wrong. I need advice, Sweetie."

Brennan just stared at her.

"From you." Angela added meaningful.

"I'll try to provide advice, but you know how horrible I am at this." The forensic anthropologist answered hesitantly.

Angela waved her words off. "Listen. Here it goes. I still love Jack."

"Okay." Brennan commented, unsure what to say.

"But I don't know what to do. I want to tell him and be happy with him again. But real life is not a fairy tale and he might say no. So, what should I do?" Angela gave Brennan a helpless look.

The other woman shifted uncomfortably. "Do you really think I have some kind of expertise to base my advice on?"

"Which one of us is the one in a happy relationship?" Angela asked.

"A day hardly qualifies as relationship." Brennan objected.

"Please, Bren. This between Booth and you has been a relationship alright. You just kept it sex-less for very long. Besides, I need my best friend." The pleading note in her voice did it.

Brennan bit her bottom lip for a moment. "Booth and I just spent years trying not to risk our friendship by acknowledging that there was more between us. Looking back now I think we wasted a lot of time. Time we could have put to better use. If you have a chance to be happy…. You should probably take it."

Temperance Brennan watched her best friend take it in. "But he might say no." Angela whispered.

"Yes." Brennan nodded. "But he also might wonder about the same things you do." She paused. " You told me Booth was watching me sometimes." Angela nodded. "Jack is watching you."

"With a homicidal look on his face?" Angela guessed.

Brennan shook her head. "Smiling." She corrected.

"That… sounds as if I actually… maybe, maybe could have a chance." The artist admitted hesitantly, loosening her tight grip on the file she'd been clutching to her chest. She hesitated, then smiled at the other woman behind the desk. "Thank you, Sweetie."

"It helped? I did not… screw up?" Brennan asked. Angela shook her head. "No. You're pretty good best friend material, Bren. Thanks." And as fast as she had hurried into Brennan's office moments earlier, she breezed out again. Brennan stared after her for a moment, then smiled a little and went back to work.

* * *

Sooooo. A little bit about Angela and Jack and Cam thrown in too. The next chapter should give us a few new things about the case and maybe an appearance of Cullen again.

A virtual hug to all of you! Thank you for reading. Reviews would be great.


	27. Chapter 27

author's note!

hello all

I'm sorry that I have to disappoint you again, there will be no updates in the near future. I thought things were looking good, but fate just slapped is in the face. Again.

A good friend of our family - in fact my dad's cousin - just got diagnosed with very aggressive brain cancer. surgery impossible, only weeks left. his son is one of my best friends.

I don't know if I will be able to be online much, as I will try my best to be supportive.

Thank you for understanding.

CheeseBK


End file.
